


Shocking Precautions

by syphoner



Series: Changing the World [2]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Family Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Relationship(s), Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-06-07 12:32:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6804505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syphoner/pseuds/syphoner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Judy wake up in the hospital a few days after the rumbling, both injured but not too severely, only to find out that they're targets. Which means they have to disappear. And where better for a bunny to disappear than Bunnyburrow? </p><p>Judy and Nick now have to navigate their new relationship and how the Hopps family reacts to the taboo predator/prey pairing. And with the repercussions of the rumbling threatening to open a chasm of racism under the feet of all the predators in Zootopia, the ZPD's finest have their hands full even from a distance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Blood… blood… fear… lots of fear… twisting, turning, snarling… the bloody wolf walking up to him… a rabbit clenched in its jaws… his rabbit… his Judy… Judy… Judy… JUDY…_

“JUDY!” Nick screamed, launching awake only to find himself strapped down onto the bed. A solid _thump_ beside him disoriented him, causing him to look away from the bright white lights overhead. Finnick was just climbing back up from where he’d obviously fallen off his chair.

 

“Fuckin’ hell, man! What are you doing!” The white fennec fox swore at him at a volume that would have normally caused Nick to jerk away in pain. Now it just soothed him somewhat, somehow.

 

“F-Finnick?” Nick asked tentatively, his voice hoarse and his throat scratchy and dry.

 

“Were you expecting the Easter Bunny, Nimrod?!”

 

_The Easter Bunny? Bunny… Judy!_

 

“Where’s Judy? Is she here? Is she okay?”

 

“Well…”

 

“She was there that night,” Nick said, rambling. “She was supposed to be with Fru Fru at Mr. Big’s house. She was supposed to stay there all night and only come out in the morning! Those were Bogo’s orders! But she was in Savannah Central! Near the docks! A wolf was chasing her; she was… oh god, is she okay? IS JUDY OKAY?!”

 

A heart rate monitor beside him was beeping like crazy, and suddenly there were a plethora of nurses and doctors crowding around him speaking soothingly to him. He couldn’t understand them. He just kept repeated the question over and over again until Finnick finally piped up with, “She’ll be fine! She’s in recovery right now, but she’s alive! The doctors say she’ll be fine.”

 

That finally snapped Nick out of his deranged state. “She-she’s okay?” Finnick nodded, wearing his usual irritated expression. Nick took a deep breath and settled back into the sheets. A small prick in his arm and he fell back to sleep.

 

The next time he woke up, he was staring up at the ugly mug of Chief Bogo, looking as disgruntled as ever. Nick shuddered, which only served to deepen Bogo’s frown.

 

“Are you continent again, Wilde? Or do I have to have them put you back under the anaesthetic for a few more hours?”

 

“I… I think I’ll be okay. Is-is Judy okay?”

 

“Officer Hopps has suffered her own injuries, but is stable. So long as she cares for herself properly, the doctors say she should make a full recover.” Nick let out a sigh of relief. “Now, you need to answer some questions.”

 

“Questions? What about?”

 

“The events that transpired during the rumbling. We’re trying to piece together exactly what happened; the ABI weren’t exactly aiming to make arrests.”

 

Nick shuddered, the memory of what happened when he was younger threatening to break back to the surface. He had a sneaking suspicion that one of the tubes in his arms was providing a very small amount of sedative, and that was probably the only thing that was keeping him from having another panic attack – especially after hearing about Judy being hurt.

 

“Alright. I’ll try to help where I can, but I wasn’t really paying attention for most of it.”

**

The first thing Judy was aware of was the soft breathing nearby; three sets, by the sound of it. One was deep and powerful, the other two were tiny and quick. The next thing was the dull ache in her leg and arm. For a second she thought it was just old injuries flaring up again – from when she’d broken her arm when she was 13 after falling off a roof she was trying to fix, and from the scratch of the mammoth tusk during the chase at the museum. Upon closer inspection, however, she realized that it was a different kind of ache.

 

She bolted upright in bed, her heart monitor going crazy as she remembered the events of the previous night… or was it just the previous night? She couldn’t even tell; all she knew was that she was in the hospital because those jackals had…

 

She looked down quickly. Hospital gown, check. Left arm, in a cast but there. She reached underneath the blankets and searched for her right leg. Gown, gown, gown… No fur.

 

Panicking, she tore off the blankets and felt the ache in her right leg scream at her. She searched through the blankets again, carefully this time, and realized that her right leg had somehow gotten tangled. She let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Judy?” The soft sound of Fru Fru’s voice was both soothing and startling; Judy had completely forgotten about the other breathing patterns she had heard since waking up. She looked over to see Fru Fru and Mr. Big (holding baby Judy) on her nightstand. Koslov was seated on a chair beside her bed, his usual stoic expression plastered on his face as ever.

 

“I… I’m okay. I think. H-how long has it been since…?”

 

“It’s been about 3 days.” Her friend still looked worried, despite Judy’s assurances. “The doctors had to run a lot of tests and fix some stuff, and they said it would be easier if you were kept unconscious for it. They just kept you under anaesthesia for the whole time.”

 

“What did they do to me?”

 

“My child,” Mr. Big spoke up. “The wounds you sustained were very dangerous; the doctors feared that should they go untreated, you would likely lose your limbs. What they did is a miracle, and it will allow you to continue to pursue your career with the police.”

 

“The jackals’ jaws tore through several major muscles and fractured your leg in a few different places,” the doctor said, moving through the doorway. Judy was surprised to find that she was a wolf; normally they only asked prey to treat prey, and predators to treat predators. This must be a special case, though. “All we did was insert a metal rod into the bones to help hold them together and reknit the muscles. Hello, Casmiro, Fru Fru, Koslov,” she added to the shrews and the polar bear. All three returned the greeting.

 

“Dear child, this is our family doctor, Lara Loup. She has treated our family since Grandmamma was your age.” The elderly wolf smiled at her, careful not to show any fangs.

 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Judy said, puzzled.

 

“Is something troubling you, Ms. Hopps?”

 

“No, no,” Judy said quickly. “I’m just surprised that a predator like you is the Big family doctor.” Realizing what she’d said, she quickly clapped a hand to her mouth – her right hand, of course, not the damaged left hand. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—“

 

Dr. Loup just laughed. “It’s alright dear; the medication probably still hasn’t worn off completely, and I’ll admit, it _can_ be a little weird to see a wolf like me treating arctic shrews. But, I was the family doctor for Koslov’s father as well. He recommended me to Frederica – or Grandmamma, as you all know her – and so she came to see me. After that, they requested me specifically whenever the needed anything.”

 

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”

 

The wolf smiled again and nodded. “Well, physically it seems like you’d be capable of answering questions now. Are you prepared for it emotionally?”

 

“Questions? You mean like, for a police report?”

 

“Indeed. The police chief has been right up my tail for the past few days about you, Ms. Hopps. He demanded that we let him know as soon as you’d woken up. Fortunately for you, your partner woke up first and so he’s getting questioned first.”

 

“My partner? You mean Nick? Wait, what do you mean, he woke up first? He’s here?”

 

“They found him kinda bloodied in an alleyway just after the rumbling,” Fru Fru said. “The doctors said it seemed like it was wolf blood, and that the only things wrong with Nick was a pair of broken ribs and a mild concussion.” Judy let out a sigh of relief.

 

“So what happens now?”

 

“You need to take care of yourself, Ms. Hopps. I’m giving the chief direct orders to put you on medical leave. Likely Mr. Wilde’s doctor will do the same.”

 

“But… but the case!”

 

“No _buts_ , Ms. Hopps; if you don’t take care of yourself now, you’ll likely be crippled for the rest of your life. And the last thing we want is for your so-far outstanding career to go to waste.”

 

Judy clenched her jaw, but, realizing that the doctor was probably right, sighed and replied with, “Yes, doctor.”

 

Noticing her friend’s ears droop, Fru Fru tried to console her. “Don’t worry, Judy! You can come stay with Daddy and I! We’ll make sure that you’ve got everything you need to get yourself back to a full recovery!”

 

“Thanks, Fru Fru.” Judy gave her a grateful smile.

 

“That won’t be necessary, Officer Hopps.” Chief Bogo shouldered past Dr. Loup, who still stood in the doorway. “Everyone other than Hopps, get out. I need to speak with her alone.”

 

Reluctantly, Fru Fru and Mr. Big climbed back into Koslov’s outstretched paws, and the massive polar bear stood up. Bogo moved out of the way and the three of them departed. “Keep in mind, if you upset her too much, Chief Bogo, I’ll have to come back and sedate her, and your questioning will have to wait.”

 

“I’m aware of standard procedure, doctor. Thank you.” The wolf gave one last, long look at the cape buffalo before departing.

 

“Now, Hopps. Tell me what happened.”

 

Judy recounted her memories of the night as effectively as she could. Bogo took notes in a tiny pad of paper that he’d pulled from the breast pocket of his uniform. When she was finished with her account, the chief reviewed his notes, sighed, removed his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes with one hoof.

 

“Remind me again why you disobeyed a direct order that we only issued _to protect your life_?”

 

“Sir, my job is to serve and _protect_ , and I couldn’t really do that if I was locked up in a house in Tundratown, now could I?”

 

“You were off-duty, Hopps.”

 

“And my friends were trapped in Savannah Central, and were guaranteed to die unless I went and helped them!”

 

“And you couldn’t trust in your fellow officers to protect them, could you?”

 

“I…” Judy knew that Bogo would have her on parking duty for the next _year_ if she handled this wrong. If he thought she didn’t or couldn’t trust her fellow officers, then her chances of any kind of field duty were completely over. She already had a strike against her because she was a bunny. “How many officers were in the field that night, Chief? 250? 300? And how many predators were there?”

 

“Where are you going with this, Hopps?” Judy just stared at him, one eyebrow raised, a frown on her face. Bogo shifted uncomfortably. “Wilde’s last estimate was 700 predators at the rally.”

 

“700 predators gone half-savage because of a mind-altering drug against three hundred officers from the ZPD, and maybe 50 agents from the ABI. And that’s just in _one area_ of the city. And what were the civilian casualties like? How many animals were injured or killed?”

 

“Hopps, I—“

 

“The fact that they even managed to _get_ to Savannah Central means that the ZPD wasn’t able to contain them. Therefore, my being in Savannah Central that night was highly justified.”

 

“As justified as it might have been in your mind, you were still given a direct order.”

 

“And officially, I am only required to obey that order while I am on-duty. And as you yourself said, I was off-duty that night.”

 

Bogo sighed in frustration. “Alright, Hopps, settle down; apparently Wilde’s sharp wit is rubbing off on you. Now, getting back to what I was saying before. Your offer from the family of that arctic shrew won’t be necessary. While I feel that it would be best for you to not stay with them for personal reasons, of which you are highly aware, there is another reason that you won’t be accepting as well. In the three days that you have been here, unconscious, there have already been two kidnapping attempts. The only reason that they didn’t succeed is because of the few key witnesses that we’ve managed to arrest in connection with this case, who revealed to us the exact time and location that these incidents were going to take place.”

 

“Kidnapping? Someone was trying to kidnap _me?_ ”

 

“Yes, as strange as it may seem. And they’ve tried to assassinate Wilde.”

 

_“WHAT!”_

 

“Settle down, Hopps; the last thing we need right now is for that doctor to come back and put you to sleep again!” Judy took a few deep breaths to settle her beating heart, and then looked back at the chief. “Now, once again, we stopped them. However, we have determined that, at least until the time that you are fully recovered, you should remove yourselves from the city. We will provide you with a safe house and transportation to said safe house, and once you have fully recovered we can reassess the situation and revisit it.”

 

“And the case?”

 

“As of this moment, both you and Wilde are officially being removed from the Happytown Fiends case. Lieutenant Taggert has taken the reins on it now, and the ABI still controls the rumbling portion of it. They also agree with us that you two should be removed from duty for the time being.”

 

Judy looked down for a moment, her ears flat against her head. When she looked up, however, the chief could see irritation and acceptance in her eyes. “Alright, chief. I’ll go to this safe house. As long as Nick can come, too.”

 

The buffalo snorted, and for a moment Judy thought that he would deny her request. “If it weren’t for the fact that Wilde said he might just disappear on us if he couldn’t be there to make sure you were safe, I would have refused flat out. However, seeing as you both seem to be interested in staying together…”

 

“Yeah! Thank you, Chief!” Judy almost jumped out of bed before remembering that she was injured, and instead gave the chief her biggest and brightest smile. He snorted again.

 

“Now, the only other matter to discuss before I let you get back to your rest. Wilde has made some suggestions about where this safe house should be. Do you think that should you return to Bunnyborrow, your family would be able to keep it fairly secret that you were there?”

 

Judy was caught off guard by the question. “Fairly secret? As in what?”

 

“Would they be able to stop from spreading the word around to the other members of the city?”

 

“More than likely.” Judy shrugged. I mean, I _do_ have 275 siblings, so a few of them will probably forget and mention it to their friends if I come back, but besides that it shouldn’t be an issue. No one who would spread it around to unfriendly ears would hear about it.”

 

“And how would they feel about you showing up there with a fox along for the ride?”

 

Comprehension blossomed across the bunny’s face, and for a moment she was speechless. Realizing she had her mouth hanging open, she quickly composed herself again and cleared her throat. “Uh, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. One of my parents’ business partners is a fox, and he’s become a good friend of the family… I guess if we absolutely needed to, we could pass Nick off as Gideon’s cousin. But, why Bunnyburrow?”

 

“Where else to hide a rabbit but among rabbits?”

 

“And Nick?”

 

Bogo shrugged, but his scowl deepened. “Wilde has already promised to disappear if we separate you, and I have a sneaking suspicion that he’d just disappear off to wherever we had you holed up. This just makes it easier on us. Plus, the less people have to know about this whole operation, the better.”

 

Judy looked at the chief in wonder, then stared at her lap. Bogo could almost see the cogs whirling under that silver fur. “When do we leave?” She didn’t look up.

 

“As soon as we can get the doctors to sign off on the papers.” Judy nodded.

 

“I’m guessing you haven’t talked to my family about it yet, huh.”

 

“You did specify that we were not allowed to contact your family unless it was for funeral arrangements.”

 

Judy nodded again. “I should probably let them know that we’re coming.”

 

“You can do that on the way. We’re still in the final stages of organizing this. Until you’re on the train out of Zootopia, I don’t want them to hear a word about this. Understood, Officer Hopps?”

 

“Understood, sir.”


	2. Chapter 2

Learning to use the crutches was more difficult than Judy had anticipated. Though that might have been because she could only really grab one crutch, and had to awkwardly manoeuver the other one with her armpit and elbow. After a few days of practicing with the help of the nurses, however, she managed to get the hang of it.

 

The next day, she and Nick were boarding the train to Bunnyburrow. Lily had packed Judy’s bag, since she was still indisposed. Nick had offered to do it for her, but Judy had reminded him that Lily knew her better, and knew which clothes she’d prefer to bring, and how to pack them. “The last thing I want is to show up at home with my shirts all wrinkled and bunched up in the suitcase,” she said. “If I did, my mom might just have a heart attack!”

 

They plopped down into the seat nearest the door and Nick pushed their suitcases up into the overhead compartment. The train pulled into the station and they were on their way before either of them spoke.

 

“I guess I should call my parents, huh,” Judy said. Nick nodded mutely, his gaze trained on the seat across from them. “What do you think I should tell them?”

 

Nick looked at her, and it seemed like she had shaken him out of a reverie. “Sorry?”

 

“What should I tell my parents?”

 

“Probably that you’ll be arriving in… what, 2 hours? Oh, and maybe that you’re injured.”

 

“Oh god, that will go over well,” Judy groaned. “I’d almost rather tell them that I’m on drugs!”

 

“Are you on drugs?” He gave her a surprised look; that was the _last_ thing he was expecting her to say.

 

“Prescription painkillers, but to them it’s the same thing as, say, marijuana or crack. My family is very naturopathic, in case you couldn’t tell.”

 

“So that explains why they use Night Howlers to keep the bugs off your plants as opposed to regular old pesticides, like the rest of the world.”

 

“Yupp. Plus they’re better for you than spraying the plants with all those chemicals.”

 

“Huh. Who would’ve guessed?” She smacked his arm playfully. “Ow!” Even when she was just joking around, her punches _hurt_.

 

“What do you think I should say about you?”

 

“Your parents don’t know that I’m a fox, right?” Reluctantly, Judy shook her head. “Then maybe mention that to them in the call so that we don’t give them a heart attack when they see me following you with our suitcases in hand. Or, you know, pull out the fox Taser.”

 

Judy pulled a face. “Do you really think my dad carries around a fox Taser?”

 

“You never know; I’ve heard most farmers carry a sawed-off shotgun with them wherever they go.”

 

“That’s complete baloney,” the rabbit snorts, and leans her head up against his shoulder. “Most farmers don’t even _own_ guns of any kind, much less sawed-off shotguns!”

 

“Are you sure about that?”

 

“Ni-ick! Have you ever even been to a farm?”

 

“Yes I have! Well, sort of,” he amends himself as she turns to look at him incredulously. “I actually have a friend who lives on someone’s farm out in Bunnyburrow. She mostly keeps to herself, but when I was there last time we took a walk around the area.”

 

“Wait, you’ve been to Bunnyburrow before? And you haven’t told me?”

 

“It was only the once, and that was probably about twelve years ago. I didn’t think it would matter that much, since she was the only one whom I interacted with during my visit.”

 

“Huh. And here I thought I was progressive for a rabbit, making friends with a fox.”

 

“You are,” Nick replied, adjusting his position to get more comfortable on the cushioned seat.

 

“I thought you just said that you had a friend who lived in Bunnyburrow!”

 

“Yeah, but she’s a badger, not a rabbit.”

 

“Huh. I didn’t realize there _were_ any badgers that lived in the area.” Nick just shrugged.

 

Judy adjusted herself on the seat so her injured leg was propped up. She leaned back against Nick’s shoulder. “So when they ask, what are we?”

 

“When they ask?”

 

“Yeah. My parents are going to ask what our relationship is; I’m not sure what species they thought you were, but I doubt they think you’re a fox. So, I have a feeling that they might have come to the conclusion that we’re… more than just… partners. Y’know, on the force,” she added hastily.

 

He continued to stare at the wall for a few moments, then turned his head and placed his snout right between her ears. Just like that night at the train station, the one where she’d first met Ricky. Except this one felt more comforting, like that picture that he’d taken of them in the Fruit Market after their dinner with Lily and Mark.

 

“You still need to send me that picture.”

 

“What?” She could practically feel the confusion in his muzzle.

 

“The picture? The one you took in the Fruit Market? I want to make that my new profile picture on Muzzlebook.”

 

“Oh! That one. Sure, I’ll send it to you when I get service again; my phone plan is great for the city, but it sucks whenever I go anywhere else.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“You sure you want to have a fox as part of your profile picture, though?”

 

“Yeah, why not? I mean, you have a picture of us together on your Instamam as your profile pic.”

 

“Wait, you have Instamam?”

 

“Yeah. I got it to follow you.”

 

“Just to follow me?”

 

“Well, yeah.” Judy rolled her eyes. “And Clawhauser wouldn’t shut up about how _hot_ Serge is, so I followed both of them just to keep him from chatting my ear off about it every other morning.”

 

“And is Serge hot?”

 

“He’s got more muscles than Bogo and wicked sharp teeth, even for a pred. Not my kind of guy, but I can see why Benjamin thinks he’s so hot.” She pulled out her phone and quickly pulled up Clawhauser’s Instamam(mal) page. The first picture was of a tall, muscular leopard with gleaming white fangs. Nick could feel his ears perk up at the sight. “See? ‘He’s my inspiration to get fit. Love waking up next to him! #lifegoals #besthubbyever.’”

 

“Well, looks like you’ve got some competition there, Carrots; I think I have to agree with Ben on this one. Damn.” She punched him again. Hard. “Ow! I’m just teasing you, calm down! I already told you that I don’t want—“

 

“—to be with any-bunny but me, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Judy grouched for a moment in reply. Then without warning and faster than Nick could react, she leaned her head back and pressed her lips to the soft flesh on the underside of Nick’s jaw. He hummed softly in response, tickling her whiskers in the process.

 

Judy readjusted her position and, taking a deep breath, hit the speed dial button for her parent’s cell phone.

**

The stepped off the train a just over an hour and a half later. The station wasn’t very crowded; they’d gotten the first train in the morning, hoping that the lack of people would help conceal their leaving the city. The only people there were Judy’s brothers Al and Vince – the oldest of Judy’s 275 siblings, just a few minutes ahead of her. The three of them were from her parents’ first litter. She had expected them to be at the market by now. The two of them manned stalls in for some of the other families who didn’t have the luxury of being at the market themselves to sell their produce.

 

“Al! Vince!”

 

They returned her greetings with enthusiastic smiles and waves, which were only dampened slightly when they saw Nick walk out right behind her carrying their luggage. One of them, Nick wasn’t sure which, picked her up off the ground with a hug around the waist. Her crutches fell to the ground as the rabbit spun the two of them in circles. Thankfully the other one had enough sense to refrain from picking her up, and helped her back onto her crutches. Then they turned to Nick.

 

“Guys, this is my partner Nick. Nick, these are my brothers Al and Vince.” She motioned to each one in turn.

 

“Pleasure to meet you,” Al said, shaking Nick’s hand with an extremely firm grip. Nick tried to match it but he quickly felt his hand getting sore. His interaction with Vince was almost an exact duplicate, other than the fact that it lasted longer than his brother’s. Nick continued to grin through both interactions, but inside he was cringing from the pain in his hand.

 

Al was in the process of helping Judy into the car by the time Vince let go. Before Nick could do anything, however, the tall bunny placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re planning on doing with my sister,” he said in a menacing tone, “but I swear that if you hurt her…”

 

“If I hurt her, you might just have to get in line to get at me,” Nick replied as sardonically as he could, his grin turning smug again. “I’m pretty sure there’s more than a few people who would be in front of you – and believe me, I have no doubt in my mind that the first person in that line would be Judy herself. You want something to worry about? Worry about what would happen if she gets pissed off at _me_.”

 

Vince just glared at him, his former bravado slowly slipping away in the wake of Nick’s comments. “Come on, you guys, hurry up!” Judy called out to them. “What’s taking so long?” The two met glares, and Nick had to force himself to keep his fur flat and the smirk on his face. The bunny had _steel_ , almost as much as Judy had in her.

 

Vince turned away and walked back to the truck leaving Nick to carry the suitcases.

 

As he climbed into the back beside Judy, she whispered to him, “What was that all about?”

 

“He was warning me off of hurting you,” Nick whispered back. “I think you might want to clarify to them what you meant when you said we were partners, Carrots.”

 

Al pulled the truck out of its parking spot near the train station and onto the dirt road. Nick winced every few minutes as the bouncing of the truck caused his whole torso to flare in pain, and it certainly wasn’t helping his head, either. The doctors had given him some weak painkillers, but he had a funny feeling he might need to get something stronger to help tide him over.

 

“So,” Al started. “Ma an’ Pa were very sparse on the explanations. What’s with the sudden visit? And the injuries?”

 

“It was either come back home or stay cooped up in my apartment for the next few months except for the bi-monthly trips to the hospital for a check-up.” The two bunnies in the front grunted in reply. Nick noticed that Judy was chewing her lower lip nervously at the evasion. She had been completely opposed to the idea of directly lying to her family, but she had been much happier simply evading the whole truth.

 

Nick placed his paw over her uninjured one and gave it a light squeeze. She shot him a grateful look.

 

“And the injuries?” They were as stubborn as Judy was; he wondered if it ran in the family.

 

Judy shrugged one shoulder. “Long story. But why aren’t you guys at the market? I mean, I’m happy to see you, but don’t Mr. Fields and Mr. Applebee need you to sell their produce?”

 

“They’ve got a new system in place now,” Vince replied. “Some people were gettin’ antsy with the first-come-first-serve system, so now it’s on a rotation. Jeff’s got his slot tomorrow morning, and Stan’s got his the day after. Ain’t progress a bitch?”

 

Judy laughed. After that the conversation eased up somewhat, and they began discussing the local gossip that had been happening since the last time Judy had been home. Nick closed his eyes and tried to focus on keeping his breathing even and his back straight. It helped both his head and his torso, slightly.

 

They arrived at the Hopps family farm just over a half-hour later. Nick opened his eyes and looked out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the massive house that they _had_ to have to fit all of Judy’s 275 siblings, plus her parents and whatever other relatives lived there. He was therefore _very_ surprised to find a 2-storey farmhouse that looked like it wouldn’t be able to fit more than a half-dozen people, at most.

  
“It’s…”

 

“A lot smaller than you were expecting?” Judy teased, poking him in the shoulder. Nick nodded mutely. She laughed, and his ears perked up a little at the sound. It was pleasant to listen to, even though he could hear the faint layer of the painkillers in her voice. “The inside is a lot cosier – and a lot bigger – than the outside. Kinda like your place.”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick noticed Vince stiffen slightly as he no doubt started thinking about his sister going over to Nick’s house. “I’m not sure how it could be much bigger than it looks on the outside. Are you sure that you’re remembering it correctly?” he teased in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading! I'll try to upload one chapter a day, so stay tuned! Feedback is always welcome, if you have anything you want to say!


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh… So _that_ ’s how it can be bigger on the inside than the outside.”

 

Nick had been expecting to be led up to the front door of the farmhouse, but instead they took him around the back. There were two doors set into the wall along the back porch. One, with a screen obviously led into a small kitchen that was nicely decorated and looked to be the stereotypical farmhouse dining area. The other door had no screen and no window. The paint was peeling but the handle was shiny with obvious use. Al opened it and Nick saw that it led down into the ground.

 

Nick looked on with a wry smile on his face as Judy hopped up onto Al’s waiting back to descend the stairs. He would have preferred it to be his back she was hopping onto, but he wasn’t sure his rib could hold her weight.

 

Vince had Judy’s crutches, and he used them to usher Nick into the building ahead of him. He still had a suspicious look in his eye. Nick resolved to not give him any reason to use the crutches.

 

“The house elevator’s out of service,” Al was saying to Judy as Nick caught up to them. “Otherwise we’d be taking that. Pa’s in the middle of fixing it, though; the last thing anyone wants is for Granny or Gramps to have to go up and down these steps every time they want some fresh air.”

 

“What about the carrot field elevator? Or the one out near the rutabagas?”

 

“You actually wanna go hobbling out to the carrot fields just to take the elevator?” Al snorted.

 

“Good point,” Judy admitted. “The carrot fields are about three fields away,” she said over her shoulder for Nick’s benefit.

 

“I assumed it was probably a bit of a distance,” he replied. “Though I was a little more concerned with the fact that your carrots are so mobile that they need their own elevator.”

 

Judy giggled. Al turned back to give Nick a funny look, only to see the smug smile on his face and realize it was a joke. He turned back around without comment.

 

They continued down into the ground for another fifty feet or so before finally reaching another doorway. “Brace yourself,” Judy murmured to Nick. He was about to ask why but then they pushed the door open and turned the corner.

 

The racket was of a thousand tiny mammals all getting ready to start the day. Nick checked his phone and was startled to realize that it was only 8 in the morning. He looked back up at the room he was in and finally understood why the house could be so small – and exactly what it meant to have 275 siblings.

 

They were in what seemed to be a type of great hall that extended 4 stories straight up, with balconies on all sides. There were bunnies scurrying this way and that, eating breakfast or washing up or packing schoolbags, about half of which were wearing pyjamas and the other half who were already fully dressed. Nick noticed that it was primarily the older-looking rabbits that were dressed and the younger ones that were still in sleepwear.

 

A few bunnies started bouncing up to greet their siblings, but then stopped in their tracks when they noticed the fox’s russet fur. Then they just stood there, ears back, noses twitching, eyes wide. And more and more of them were noticing the group by the minute.

 

Nick pressed his ears back to make himself seem as non-threatening as possible, but apparently they took that as a signal to run, because one of them screamed, “FOX!” and all of a sudden the entire atrium descended into chaos as most of the bunnies started to scurry away and disappear through various doorways. The oldest among them, though, all marched forward carrying various things. Nick wasn’t sure if they were going to be used to corral the younger rabbits or to beat the fox that had wandered into their warren.

 

Judy got down off of Al’s back and Vince handed her the crutches. “Sorry about that, Nick,” she said, ears flat against her head. She had that frustrated look on her face again, the one that he knew so well and loved to tease her about. “I guess Mom and Dad didn’t warn them that you’d be coming by.”

 

“It’s okay,” he murmured in reply. “I’m used to it.” She made a noise that was half-pity half-anger and all heartbreak. Her face, though, just became determined. He suddenly felt like he was in for a very long day of show-and-tell.

 

Just then they heard a bullhorn go off somewhere, causing Nick to wince. The advancing elder children stopped, gave each other unsure looks for a moment, then sighed and scattered through the various doorways on the ground floor. A few moments later, smaller bunnies started appearing again, and seeing that their oldest siblings surrounded the fox, seemed to relax enough to go about their regular routine. A few of them kept stealing glances in his direction, however.

 

“Chief Buffalo Butt will be so please with the entrance we’ve just made,” Nick drawled. “I’m sure he’ll have an award waiting for us back at the station. I kind of like the ring of ‘Worst safe-house-ees in the history of the ZPD.’”

 

“Oh, hush. It was your idea to come here in the first place. Besides, I don’t think this could be any worse than Officers Sunder and Furlow; they went away to a safe house, ended up being absorbed into the mafia, _both_ of them got pregnant by someone other than their mates, and then when they returned to the ZPD, they got blackmailed into turning the whole precinct corrupt!”

 

“Really? Which precinct was that?”

 

“Precinct 7, up in the northern mountains. It happened about 15 years ago.”

 

“Huh. I’d never heard of that.”

“The ZPD tries to keep it really hush-hush. Only reason that I know about it is because Wolford was telling me about it one day on break. Apparently Officer Furlow was his uncle’s mate.”

“Huh.”

Finally, Judy noticed her parents approaching. While she herself couldn’t wave, both her brothers did, and the two older rabbits hurried over, pushing through the throngs of younger rabbits that were now moving towards the door. The four of them moved off into a small alcove right by the staircase. Nick leaned his back against the wall and set down their suitcases.

 

They spent a good few minutes saying their hellos and fussing over Judy’s injuries. Nick took that time to study them. Unlike the other rabbits, they didn’t seem overly perturbed to have a fox walk into their home. Judy’s father was wearing a flannel shirt and overalls, and it was obvious his messy hair was meant to be covered by a baseball cap. Judy’s mother was also dressed in a flannel top, and what looked suspiciously to Nick like gardening pants. He marvelled at how he remembered that; the last time he’d seen them was when he was 16, while his mom was out tending to her flowerbeds on her day off.

 

Finally they turned to Nick. He could see the hesitation in their eyes, particularly Judy’s dad. It made sense to him, therefore, that her mother stepped forward first. “And you must be Officer Wilde,” she said, trying for a tentative smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. He could tell he’d still have to work on them, but it was an improvement over most of the other rabbits. “I’m Bonnie, and this is Stu,” she indicated her husband.

 

“At your service,” he replied with a smile, ears still back. He extended a paw and she shook it lightly. Stu gave him a heartier shake, but Nick could still feel the nerves.

 

“ _Officer_?” Vince muttered to his brother.

 

“Yeah, Officer,” Judy replied, giving her brothers what Nick had come to know as her _hustler smirk_. “What did you two think I meant when I said he was my partner?”

 

“You kinda forgot to mention that he’s not your, y’know…”

 

“My _boyfriend_?” Both rabbits looked very uncomfortable. Nick couldn’t help but let his smile melt into a mirror of Judy’s.

 

“This is all one big joke, isn’t it?” Vince said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself.

 

“Does it matter if he is my boyfriend?”

 

“Of course not!” Bonnie interjected. “It doesn’t matter at all. We’re just happy that the two of you are here and safe.”

 

“Though, uh, exactly what caused your injuries?” Stu interjected. “You didn’t really say anything about it over the phone.”

 

“It’s a long story, Dad. I’ll tell you guys later.”

 

“Oh! Uh, of course Jude! Yeah, we’ll deal with that later. We have all day, after all!” Judy’s smile became a little friendlier and she nodded vigorously.

 

“Come on, hun” her mom said. “I’ll show you to your room. Unfortunately Annie and her litter have your old room, but we’ve gotten one of the reading rooms in the old burrow all set up for you two to sleep in!”

 

“Whoa, wait a minute there, Ma.” All five of them turned to look at Vince. “Are you really gonna let Judy sleep with that fox?”

 

“Vince, dear, you know we don’t have enough rooms to put up both of them separately.”

 

“And what about Gideon? I’m sure the Grey’s have enough space for one extra fox to skulk around!”

 

Nick kept the smirk hanging on his lips, but it was just a mask for him to hide behind. Just like every other time someone had discriminated against him. Just like every other time he heard those slurs tossed around. Judy, however, got a determined look on her face, and he knew that, no matter what he said, she wouldn’t let her brothers get away with anything. Just like she never let any of the mammals that reacted like that to him while they were together get away with it.

 

“Gid’s got his relatives visiting from out in the Greenden’s right now,” Stu answered before Judy had a chance to say anything. “His aunt and uncle are there with his cousins and their own kids; he’ll probably have even less room than we do right now.”

 

Vince looked like he wanted to argue more, but Al put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Judy’s ear twitched and he knew she had heard it, but he couldn’t make out any more than a hiss of air.

 

Bonnie led the two of them across the main area and out through one of the hallways that didn’t have a lot of activity. The tiny bunnies that were all scurrying in the opposite direction gave the three of them a wide berth. As they were leaving, Stu started calling out instructions to the group they had just left behind.

 

The warren was a maze of staircases, hallways, and rooms. Nick was absolutely shocked by the amount of space that the warren covered; it seemed almost like its own city, hidden deep underground.

 

“How big _is_ this place, exactly?”

 

“The warren is about 6 acres of surface coverage,” Judy replied, “with the lowest point about sixty feet below sea level. There’s ten feet of topsoil, five feet of gravel and then five feet of rebar concrete making up the roof of the whole complex, which extends under a number of the fields.”

 

Nick gave a low whistle. “That’s impressive.”

 

Judy nodded, giving him a grin. “My great uncle was an architect. He’s the one that designed the whole place. Completely reinvented the way that rabbits build warrens to make them safer, so that there aren’t as many cave-ins anymore.”

 

“Unfortunately, they still happen,” Bonnie Hopps sighed. “Just last week the Mulberries’ warren collapsed. Took half their fields with it, too. It’ll be a hard year for them this year.”

 

Nick felt his heart thump just a little harder in his chest and glanced up at the ceiling in apprehension. Judy noticed and stopped to give his arm a squeeze with her uninjured paw.

 

“Yeah, but the Mulberries only have, like, 25 kids! And they’ve got that cousin who’s the head honcho of one of the biggest banks in Zootopia; I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

 

“I’m sure you’re right, dear,” Bonnie replied. “It’s still sad to see, though.”

 

“Is their insurance covering any of the damage?”

 

“No, because they were supposed to have renovated their warren over five years ago; that was the deadline given by the new by-law. It’s coming out of pocket for them.”

 

“Is it… safe? To renovate warrens underground,” Nick added, catching the end of his train of thoughts, though slightly delayed.

 

“Of course, dear. Ms. Honey was running a good business as a contractor for a little while there; do you remember her, Judy? She used to always be pining over that fox that she’d left in the city. Loved our blueberries; said they reminded her of him.”

 

“Oh yeah! I remember now,” Judy replied. “There is at least one badger living in Bunnyburrow,” she said to Nick. “I guess I just forgot that she lived here.”

 

“Miss Honey, you said her name was?”

 

“Yeah, Miss Madge Honey.” Nick’s ears flattened back in surprise, and he could feel his tail floof out. Well _that_ was unexpected…

 

“Here you are, dears,” Bonnie said finally, huffing as she pushed open the old wooden doors. “Hopefully you’ll be comfy here for a while.”

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Hopps,” Nick said, giving the older rabbit a smile. “This should work just fine.”


	4. Chapter 4

The room was quaint. Three walls were covered with bookcases and the fourth had tables stacked neatly against it. A blanket had been rolled out on the floor under a foam mattress covered by a sheet, with another one folded neatly on top. A tall mirror had been leaned against one of the bookcases, and a small dresser sat at the food of the makeshift bed.

 

“They really went all out for us, didn’t they?” Judy giggled at his comment and sat down on a cushion that she pulled from under one of the tables. Nick set down their suitcases and paused to catch his breath.

 

“It looks more impressive than it is; this room is normally kept as one of the guest bedrooms, for when we have people visiting from out of town. All of this stuff is stored in a closet just down the hall. Anytime someone comes visiting, they just pull it all out and set it out like this.”

 

“Aww, c’mon Carrots, you shouldn’t have told me that! It ruins the feeling that they’re trying to impress me!” She just laughed in response.

 

“So what was your first impression of everything like?”

 

“Hmm.” Nick put one finger to his chin and gazed up at the ceiling, pretending to be lost in thought. “Big, noisy, busy, and about the welcome I was expecting.” He looked down to catch a sudden flash of guilt in Judy’s eyes, and his smile dropped a little.

 

“Sorry about that,” she shrugged apologetically. “My family’s always been really afraid of foxes, especially my dad. He’d always raised us to fear foxes… and up until a few months after the press conference, they even refused to go _near_ foxes in their day to day, if they could avoid it. But they are improving!” she added, probably to avoid making him feel bad.

 

Nick gave her his trademark smug grin. “It’s cool, fluff.” She looked him over carefully, probably to see if he was lying to her.

 

He had figured the rabbits would probably react like they had. In all honesty, he’d been preparing for it since Judy called her parents. She had tried to tell her parents during the call that he was a fox, but as soon as she mentioned that he was coming too, they wouldn’t stop talking and Judy hadn’t been able to get a word in edgewise between then and the end of the conversation. He had been very surprised, therefore, when they had seemed to greet him with open arms, even though he was a fox.

 

“So,” Judy said after a moment, beckoning him closer. He sat down beside her and she swivelled on her cushion to lean her head against his shoulder. “Is Miss Honey the badger friend you were talking about?”

 

“Probably,” Nick admitted, shrugging the shoulder Judy wasn’t leaning against. “The name is very similar; my friend’s name is Honey Badger, but Madge is her middle name, so it could be she just switched it around. Other than that I’d have to see her in person to be able to tell you.”

 

“And the ‘pining’ part?”

 

“Before she moved, Honey and I had a bit of a fling. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, just to blow off some steam. But then she started to get attached, and more emotionally invested than she had been before. She wanted a mate. I wasn’t ready for that yet... When I didn’t reciprocate her feelings, she felt hurt and moved out into the country to try and get away from me. We lost touch for a few years after that but then we ran into each other suddenly in the city again. She invited me to stay at her place and I realized that she still had some feelings for me, so I left again.”

 

“So you didn’t part on the best of terms, then?” He just shrugged.

 

They sat there in companionable silence for a few minutes. Finally, Judy sighed. “You’re incredibly impatient, you know that?” Nick said before she had a chance to say anything.

 

“Well I do have to wait for _you_ most mornings in the bullpen, don’t I? I think I can be pretty patient if I want to be. Besides, you’ve never had to share a bathroom with 12 siblings, so I wouldn’t exactly be talking.”

 

“12!”

 

“Well, there are 280 of us total that lived here growing up, and only 20 washrooms. So we had to share, quite a lot.” Seeing the look on the fox’s face, she continued with, “Don’t worry; since we’re here on vacation, we can avoid the morning rush and so we shouldn’t have to wait too much.”

 

“What happens if you really have to go and all the washrooms are occupied?”

 

“You go outside, in one of the empty fields.” He gave her another funny look. Judy just shrugged. “How are your ribs?”

 

“They’re fine. They haven’t really been too bad so far except for the car ride, and as long as I don’t have anyone jumping on me, or have to carry anything on my back, I should be fine. It’s more my head I’m worried about.”

 

“Has it been bothering you a lot?”

 

“A bit. All through the car ride, every bump was… let’s just say, _unpleasant_.” She put her paw on his arm. They sat there in silence for a few moments, revelling in each other’s company. Nick still had trouble believing his luck that he could be here, cozy and warm and pressed up against the only other mammal that had ever really cared about him, next to his mother. And he knew, just like he had on the night of the rumbling, he would do whatever it took to protect her and what they had together.

 

“How are you doing, Carrots? Still holding up?”

 

She nodded, tickling his nose as the soft fur of her ears flitted over it. “I’m alright. My arm and leg aren’t that bad; I think they might have given me a prescription for a bigger dose than I’ll need. Probably figured a bunny couldn’t handle the pain.” She shrugged. “They did the same thing with the cut on my leg; the doctors at the hospital tried prescribing me codeine.”

 

“Just for that scratch on your leg?”

 

“Yupp. As soon as I saw the prescription, I shoved it back into his paw and walked out.” Nick could just picture the expression of the young buck that had been looking after her following their escapade in the museum; he’d been dragged off for questioning about the evidence, seeing as Judy was otherwise occupied, and hadn’t seen her again until the next day.

 

“So what do they have you on now?”

 

“Codeine,” she admitted after a moment. “It’s about the strongest painkiller you can give a bunny without sending them into a coma.”

 

“Isn’t codeine the strongest painkiller you can give _any_ mammal before you get into anaesthesia?”

 

“You’re forgetting morphine, diamorphine, oxycodone, methadone, and fentanyl.”

 

“Oh, right. I forgot all about those. Funny, I used to know a whole bunch of people who were addicted to them.”

 

“Why am I not surprised?” Judy asked drily. Nick laughed, and after a moment, she did too.

 

A sound like a carburetor came from the doorway. Al was standing there awkwardly. Nick realised that the sound must have been him clearing his throat. He never would have figured a rabbit could make that noise.

 

“Ma an’ Pa want to talk to you now, if you’re ready,” he stated. “Ma’s also got some breakfast for the two of ya, if ya haven’t eaten yet.”

 

“Thanks, Al.” Judy smiled at her brother and he nodded and walked away, still looking uncomfortable. “Was it just me, or did he look very uncomfortable?”

 

“Remember how I told you that pred-prey couples get a lot of weird looks?”

 

“Do you really think it was that?”

 

“You never know. Some people just aren’t comfortable with the idea. And they’re not exactly good at keeping it to themselves. Or they just don’t care to.”

 

Judy pulled her head off his shoulder and looked at him with worry in her eyes. His heart went out to her and he felt guilty for making her feel that way, but he also knew that she would hate his coddling. She would also recognize his attempts to protect her from the issue at paw and that would only irritate her more.

 

“Come on, we’d better go. My stomach’s about to eat itself,” he said only half-jokingly. Right on cue, his stomach growled. They’d eaten before they left that morning, but that had been at 5AM. It was now almost 9.

 

Judy snorted and shook her head, but she had a smile on her face as she did it.

**

Nick looked astounded by the size of the blueberry pancakes that Bonnie Hopps set in front of him. The stack was at least a foot high, and consisted of 12 pancakes, each one as wide around as a dinner plate. It was placed on a massive platter with butter and jam on one side, blueberries, strawberries and apple slices on the other, and real maple syrup placed between him and Judy on the kitchen table of the house upstairs.

 

Judy knew he had been expecting to just go to wherever the main kitchen area was for the warrens, so he had seemed mildly confused when she had led him in the opposite direction. She had led them towards one of the elevators, and then they’d made their way through the carrot fields back towards the big house.

 

Bonnie placed an equally large plate in front of Judy before sitting down at one end of the table. Stu was already sitting at the other end. Al and Vince were sitting on either side of Nick; Judy’s oldest sisters Anna and Beth were sitting on either side of her. They were the other two members of her litter. Beth worked as a hair stylist at one of the local salons. Anna was a mechanic; the fur on her brown cheeks was stained black from the grease that constantly fell onto them. They’d both taken the day off when they’d found out she was coming home.

 

“So, Jude,” Stu began once his wife had sat down. “Jude the Dude, eh?” He chuckled at his joke. Judy just rolled her eyes in response. “What made you decide to take this, uh, surprise vacation?”

 

“I was ordered onto medical leave,” Judy replied. “After what happened to my arm and leg, it was… well, I didn’t exactly have a choice. Plus, being back here was better than being cooped up in my apartment for 3 months. The elevator doesn’t work in my building, and I can’t exactly take the stairs, so I wouldn’t have had any way to get around.”

 

“What, your boyfriend here wouldn’t be able to carry you? And you say he’s a police officer?” Anna mocked. Vince stiffened again at her words. Al looked away from her.

 

“Nick’s torso also suffered some trauma; he’s not able to carry anything heavy on his back.”

 

“You’re not that heavy, Jude,” Stu replied, furrowing his brow.

 

“Dad, I’m 17 pounds.” That caught everyone’s attention. Well, except Nick. He was engrossed with the blueberry pancakes. She glanced over at him and he looked up briefly to give her a wink before going back to eating.

 

“Judy, are you sure you’re reading the scale correctly, honey?” Bonnie asked.

 

“I’m sure, Mom. That’s what the physician got the last time I had a physical exam. It’s all muscle, though.”

 

“And what do you have to say about that, Nick?” Vince asked, turning to the fox. “Find anything wrong with that?”

 

“Why would I? I assumed that that was only slightly above average for a bunny, and as far as I’m concerned it just means that she’s able to pull more than her own weight on the force.” She kicked him lightly under the table. He just smirked at her in response.

 

“The average for rabbits is about 12 pounds,” Judy informed him. “Anyway, because of his chest, he’s also on medical leave, so we decided that it would be nice to get out of the city for a while and recuperate out here in the fresh country air.”

 

“Not to mention, I was starting to run low on blueberries from the last batch that you sent up,” Nick added. “And the ones in Zootopia’s Fruit Market aren’t nearly good enough to match up to yours.”

 

Stu seemed to swell in pride at his words, and went into a detailed explanation of the plant husbandry that had led them to the current state of the Hopps blueberries. Nick looked at him with an expression that Judy recognized as mild panic at this delude of information. She laughed silently at him from where she sat and continued eating her pancakes.

 

While their father was talking to Nick, Anna and Beth leaned in on either side of her and started talking to her in hushed tones. “Some extra warning would have been nice,” Beth said.

 

“Yeah, what’s the big idea, bringing your boyfriend home without telling us he was coming?”

 

“Hell, what’s the big idea, not letting us know you had a boyfriend in the first place?”

 

“Mind your language, Beth,” Bonnie interjected softly, so as not to interrupt Stu. The rabbit on Judy’s right flushed and looked away.

 

“Guys, it only really happened a few days ago, and things have been kind of hectic since then. The first chance I really had to process it was on the train ride here?”

 

“Now was that _before_ or _after_ you called Ma and Pa to tell them that you were bringing your boyfriend home?” Anna smirked at her.

 

“Shut up, Anna.”

 

“Or was it just that you were too embarrassed to come back to Bunnyburrow without some kind of mate in tow? I mean, you were the only single Hopps until you hit the fifth litter, for a while there!”

 

“Wait, what? All of you already have mates?”

 

Beth was smirking now too, and elbowed Judy in the side. Thankfully Judy’s arm wasn’t in the way. “You’re the last one, darling. Al and Vince are both married, and Vince’s wife Debby is having her first litter in a few weeks; Jim and I just got engaged—“ she flashed a golden ring set with a tiny yellow diamond to match her fur “—and Anna’s getting pretty close to that stage too.”

 

“Wow. Congratulations!” Judy was swamped. She had tried to keep up a little with her littermates, either through talking with them or through her parents. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to them in a few weeks before the phone call on the train, but she hadn’t realized that there had been so much that could have changed!

 

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of Nick’s ears twitch in their direction and knew he was listening to her just as much as he was to her father. Stu, for his part, still hadn’t stopped talking.

 

Finally, after another few minutes of Stu seeming like he would sit there talking all day about the blueberries, Bonnie cleared her throat, giving her husband a meaningful look.

 

“And the… uh…” Stu looked over at his wife and catching her look, trailed off. “At any rate, it’s a long and complicated process. If you have more time later I’d be more than happy to explain the rest of it to you, but we don’t have to get into that now, eh?” He chuckled. Nick gave him a small chuckle, probably just to humour him, and then turned back to his pancakes. Judy noticed that his eyes looked slightly glazed and wondered exactly how much of her dad’s enthusiastic instructions he had retained.

 

“So, honey,” Bonnie started. “We’re all dying to know: where did you get those injuries?”

 

“And don’t give us another one of those “it’s a long story,” Vince added. “’Cause we all got time to hear it now, so there’s no point in putting it off.”

 

Judy could tell that Nick was paying attention, but his gaze remained on his pancakes as he finished off his sixth of the dozen. They’d discussed this on the train; as horrible as their entrance would probably be, they needed to make sure the information didn’t get around that they were back. To do that, they’d need the help of the older members of the Hopps family.

 

“Before we tell you anything,” Judy replied, her serious tone catching their attention, “you have to promise that you won’t tell _anyone_ about what we’re about to tell you. We need to keep it a complete secret until _at least_ after we leave. And that includes us being back in Bunnyburrow. Do you understand?”

 

Her parents glanced nervously at each other. “Judy…” Bonnie began, but she wasn’t given a chance to finish.

 

“Mom, Nick and I are in danger, so we need to make sure that _everyone_ helps to keep it secret. That’s the only reason we’re telling you at all.”

 

“The heck you mean, you’re in danger?” Al planted his paws on the oak table and glared at his sister. “What are you in danger from?”

 

Judy glared right back at her brother. “Do you promise to keep everything secret?” They had a silent staring contest for a few minutes, but finally Al backed down, pulling back and crossing his arms over his chest with a sound of frustration.

 

“Fine, I promise.” The others murmured their agreement too, and Judy sighed in relief.

 

Nick gave her a small smile. “See? I told you that you’d be able to convince them.”

 

Both Al and Vince rounded on the fox, but before they could do anything, Judy spoke up. “The real reason we’re here is because while we were in the hospital, someone tried to kidnap me three times, and someone – possibly the same someone – tried to kill Nick.”

 

There was a sudden silence and everything stopped at her words. Then suddenly everyone was talking at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the love! If you have any feedback, feel free to leave a comment (it's always appreciated!)


	5. Chapter 5

It took them most of the day and several very strong pots of tea. There was a lot of crying on the part of Stu. There were a lot of gasps and horrified looks at both Judy and Nick. There were several instances where Judy had to out-shout everyone else in the room except Nick, who just kept silent the entire time.

 

Finally, they were all sitting around the table, worn out from the emotional afternoon that they’d had. At more than one point, they’d shifted around to different seats to accommodate the loss of Al, then Beth, then the return of Al with his wife Sara (an ewe that was the daughter of the farmer Al worked for), then Beth and her husband Jim, and then Vince leaving, then Vince returning with a very pregnant Debby (a long-eared jackrabbit from the Mulberries’ farm). Each time a new person had arrived, they’d had to swear them to secrecy as well, and then go over everything that they’d already talked about, which led to the reopening of the arguments that they’d just settled.

 

Somewhere in the shuffle, Nick had come to sit beside Judy. His chair was pressed right up against hers, creating a single bench-like seat that they shared. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulders and she was leaning her head on his shoulder. She was exhausted and her throat was raw from all the shouting.

 

Through the screened back door she could see her younger siblings running through the fields, playing in the empty ones or hiding between the stems of the various plants. Every one of them that she saw seemed older than she remembered. It was slightly disconcerting to realize that this had been her first trip home since the conclusion of the Night Howlers case more than a year earlier.

 

Judy glanced at Stu. Her father seemed to be in some kind of shock. A quick glance at her mother confirmed that she was the same. They’d tried to spare them the gruesome details, but even the bare necessities of the story had shattered any delusions that they’d had of the safety that they assumed their daughter enjoyed working with the police. She felt guilty, but they had done everything they could to protect her family from the truth.

 

She could hear the vibration of Nick’s phone as it buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it, but it buzzed again, more insistently this time. And then a third time. “Just answer it,” she told him quietly. She knew the only reason he wasn’t checking it was because he was at the table with her family. That was one of Nick’s quirks: he had no problem pulling it out every other time that the thought came to mind, but he wouldn’t even touch it while he was at the table.

 

He reached into his pocket reluctantly and pulled it out, pressing his thumb to the home button to unlock it. She hated that feature; her phone didn’t come with it, and so he was always able to guess her passcode after only a few tries. She was always met with his stupid finger-pad scanner, though; seeing as rabbits lacked pads on their paws, it was impossible for her to get into his phone unless he let her in.

 

She half-expected it to be some notification on Instamam or Muzzlebook, but when she looked over his shoulder it was a news article that popped up.

 

 

**_Predators Captured!_ **

_Following the recent disaster that has struck Zootopia, killing dozens and leaving thousands more with questions, the Animalia Bureau of Investigations (ABI) has apprehended the leader of the terrorist group responsible for this tragedy. Jameson Blackfur, a resident of the Canal District and notorious mob boss, was taken into custody yesterday through the joint efforts of the ABI and the Zootopia Police Department. Other notable figures that were taken into custody by the ABI were Sahal Raza, a jackal who had recently moved to the city; Andrea Lionheart, the cousin of Mayor Lionheart; and Richard A. Wilde, cousin to the esteemed Officer Nicholas P. Wilde, the ZPD’s first fox officer. Mayor Lionheart’s office has declined comment on the arrest. We were unable to contact Officer Wilde for comment._

 

 

Judy looked over at her partner carefully, trying to gauge his reaction to the statement. But he just clicked to the next one with a neutral mask on his face.

 

 

**_Rumbling Rampage: Damage and Repercussion_**

_Reports released today confirm the total death count for last Saturday’s tragedy. 200 prey mammals and 150 predators were killed during the rumbling. Several areas of the city are currently cordoned off while police investigate further. “Unfortunately, though we thought we were prepared for this event, the situation escalated at a pace that we were unable to anticipate,” Zootopia Police Chief Christopher Bogo informed the public at a press conference the day after the event. The police will be holding a memorial for officers who died Wednesday of this coming week at noon. A similar memorial will be held at City Hall on Friday at noon for all the civilians who were killed in this tragedy._

_In light of this tragedy, many prey activist groups have emerged, calling for the mayor and the city council to implement new laws to help regulate predatory behaviour, as well as to increase police jurisdiction and powers regarding the protection against illegal and potentially harmful narcotics._

_“We’re working to make sure that something like this never happens again,” says Anters Antlerson, a spokesperson for the group PUAPD (Prey United Against Predator Dominance). “As we saw, even with the help of the ABI, the Zootopia Police Department isn’t able to keep the city safe from attacks like this. And the majority of the ZPD are predators. What happens if they decide that they don’t want to help the little guys like us? Or what if they decide that we’re part of the problem? It will be hard to do anything to protect ourselves from something like that.” Antlerson says that his group isn’t advocating for the removal of predators from the ZPD’s ranks, but that there needs to be some way for prey to defend themselves._

_One solution that has been proposed to the city council so far is the return of aggression-activated shock collars, which will be provided to all predators and must be worn at all times. It is not clear if this regulation would apply to the officers of the Zootopia Police Department as well._

 

Nick closed the app, and Judy noticed for the first time that his paw was shaking. He put his phone back into his pocket.

 

“Nick…?”

 

He looked at her and she could see the panic mounting behind his eyes. “I need some air,” he murmured in her ear. “I’m sorry. Can I…?”

 

“Go ahead,” she replied, pressing her face into his neck for a brief moment. He placed his muzzle on top of her head. She inhaled deeply and got a lungful of his scent. “Take as long as you need. And if you need me, just give me a call or shoot me a text.” She felt him nod. He gently disengaged himself from her and walked out through the back door.

**

It was a lot to process.

 

Ricky’d been arrested. So had the Raza’s cousin. So had Jameson Blackfur, which was never a good sign. He had too many people in his pocket, and he had too much influence, even from behind bars. And if he thought that Nick had anything to do with his arrest, then Nick’s life would be in danger… well, even more so than it already was. Maybe that was why someone had tried to assassinate him twice while he was in the hospital.

 

The worst part was the bit about the shock collars. That had _happened_. That had been a _thing_ in Zootopia’s past, where if you weren’t wearing a shock collar and you were a predator, the ZPD would kill you on the spot. Sure they’d say it was an accident, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out the reason the officers kept “accidentally” mistaking their tranq guns for ones carrying actual bullets.

 

Thankfully that had been long before Nick was born. His grandfather had worn one for most of his life. John Wilde had been wearing that collar for so long that the fur refused to grow in a ring around his neck where the collar had chafed. It was just… skin, underneath. It had always looked hideous. Nick had always supposed that that was the reason his grandfather opened the suit shop in the first place; seeing as there wasn’t a tailor in town back then who would create suits for foxes – or any predators at all, in fact – John Wilde had needed somewhere to go to get a collared shirt that would cover up that shameful ring around his neck that would never go away. Thankfully his mother hadn’t had to worry about that; she’d only had the collar on for a few years when they banned the collars so the fur around her neck replenished itself quickly enough.

 

If the shock collars were going to be coming back, however, it would only have an atavistic effect on society as a whole. Though maybe that had already happened by now, with the whole issue with the rumbling, and the Night Howler case before it. He didn’t know. He just didn’t want things to get to that point.

 

Nick’s feet took him a lot farther than he had intended while he was absorbed in his thoughts and in containing the emotions that had slipped closer to the surface than ever. Eventually, though, he found himself in a thicket of blueberry bushes. He inhaled deeply, instantly recognizing the delicious smell in the air. So that was why he came this way; blueberries had always been a wonderful food for him, both when he was in a good mood and when he was feeling down.

 

Deciding that he’d already eaten enough blueberries for the day and that the other members of the Hopps family besides his girlfriend wouldn’t really appreciate his going and picking their blueberries willy-nilly.

 

That was another weird thought. Judy was his girlfriend. That annoyingly adorable little silver-furred cottontail hare that he’d originally written off as just another cop, was now his girlfriend.

 

He sighed. He guessed he shouldn’t be surprised; he’d always had peculiar tastes, and seeing as they already spent all day almost every day together at work, in addition to a good chunk of their free time. Of course, most of it was spent either running errands or catching the bunny up on all the pop-culture that she’d missed (apparently there weren’t that many TVs in their warren, and movies had always seemed like a waste of time to Judy growing up).

 

He laughed to himself remembering when they’d finally finished the Furry Potter series, where a bunch of mammals go to a school for magic, get sorted into houses based on different kinds of fish, and then do battle with the evil Lord Voldehart. Judy had been practically bouncing off the bed in her tiny apartment, setting the laptop to quivering and the floor to creaking. They’d had a very awkward moment where her neighbours had told them to quiet down their lovemaking. Nick had been proud, though, when Judy had clapped right back with a “I have to listen to you to going at it all the time, you can shut up a listen to me for a change!” They’d both tried to stifle their laughter, which was only partially effective and so the Oryx-Antlersons had apparently heard a lot of exaggerated moaning and groaning.

 

The smile was wiped from his face as another memory sprang into Nick’s mind. Judy had told him that the day after the Gazelle concert, when she was returning home very hungover, her two neighbours had ambushed her and demanded to know what Nick had been doing with her. She’d also confided in him about their disgusted looks when she had called him her partner. He’d joked it was probably just because they disliked foxes and couldn’t bring themselves to see him as sexually attractive, no matter how devilishly handsome he was. She’d laughed with him on the outside and let it go, but on the inside Nick had shrivelled up slightly. If he’d known then that she had feelings for him, he would have told her straight up what the look was about. He’d just assumed that she knew.

 

Not that it really seemed to matter to Judy. She saw nothing as impossible, and she always seemed to take the path of most resistance and succeed. Hell, she’d beaten the odds and made it as Valedictorian of her class at the Police Academy. She held the fastest time in Police Academy history for _any_ animal to make it through all twelve of the district courses. The instructor had even revealed to him that right at the beginning Judy had failed every obstacle course 4 times apiece in the first two months of her training.

 

He sighed and sat down with his back leaning against a small tree that had sprouted up right at the edge of the blueberry field. It was good to be sitting in a different position than he had been stuck in all day, and his ribs and core seemed thankful.

 

Nick wondered what his mom would think. In some ways, Judy reminded him of his mother. Marie-Anne Wilde had worked her tail off 12 hours a day, six days a week to support the two of them. She’d never let anything get her down, and she’d made sure that Nick always had enough. As soon as he was old enough, he changed his last name to hers in honour of her and everything that she’d done for him.

 

He sighed again, this time contentedly, as he continued to go through all the similarities between Judy and his mother. There was a surprising amount. Thankfully the two of them were different enough that they were very clearly distinct people, and he felt some mild pleasure in disproving Sealmund Freud’s ghost.

**

To their credit, Judy’s family waited until Nick was halfway across the field and well out of earshot before they started ripping into her.

 

“What was that all about?” Beth asked. “You and your boyfriend have a fight or something? Or did we just scare him off?”

 

“Serves him right,” Vince spat. “Freakin’ fox, thinks he can just _waltz_ into our warren like we wouldn’t notice, and take our sister hostage.”

 

“Excuse me? You know exactly why he’s here, Vince,” Judy snapped back at him. “And if you have an issue with him being here, then maybe the two of us should just leave. He just needed some air,” she added to Beth in a milder tone.

 

“Come on, now, Jude,” Al replied. “This is _exactly_ what Vince is talking about. He’s got you so brainwashed that you’d pick _him_ , the fox, over your own family!”

 

“Family who’s treating him like some sort of criminal when he’s done nothing but help me the entire time I’ve been in Zootopia! Sweet cheese and crackers, you guys! He’s one of the only close friends I’ve made since getting to the city, and he’s my partner on the force!”

 

“Which we’re still not happy about,” Vince cut in. “We’d much rather you get partnered with another prey animal, like an elk or an elephant or a rhino!”

 

“There are no elks in the precinct, there’s only one elephant in the precinct and she already has a partner, and the other prey animals are the same!”

 

“Fine, a predator then. As long as it’s not a _fox!_ ”

 

“So is that really the only reason that you hate him? Just because he’s a _fox_?”

 

“They’re our natural enemies! What do you expect, that we’re just going to roll over and let him ravage you left, right and centre? That we’re just going to sit by and let him attack and kill you?”

 

“He would never—!“

 

“He already has! Remember this rumbling thing? He went savage just like the others, and he almost killed that rabbit family! What’s going to stop him from doing it now?”

 

“He was under the influence of drugs at the time, which he was forced to take against his will! He had absolutely no control, and he would never take those drugs of his own accord!”

 

“So he says. But he’s a fox, and everyone knows you can’t trust a fox any farther than a rabbit can throw them!”

 

“Oh really? Because I trust him with my _life_ on a _daily basis_. And you know what? I’ll _continue_ to do that for as long as we’re both part of the same team. And  _nothing_ is going to change that!"

 

Vince’s eyes flashed, but before he could say anything, their father cut in. “Alright, alright,” he grumbled. “You two want to fight about this, you do it later. I’m tired of listening to it. We’ve already settled this.”

 

“This won’t be settled until I make sure that that _fox_ stays away from my sister, permanently!”

 

Al put a paw on Vince’s shoulder, and for a moment Judy’s heart lifted in the hope that Al would be able to talk some sense into their brother. Growing up, he’d been one of the only ones who could, once Vince got going. His next words, however, shattered that faint hope.

 

“Easy there, Vince. If it comes down to it, we can always cuff and muzzle the beast.”

 

Judy felt her mouth drop open, felt her ears, which had been pressed back against her head in her fury, go limp with shock. _They wouldn’t…_

 

“Now, now, boys,” Stu grumbled again. “What did I tell you about that? We don’t use it unless _absolutely necessary_. Y’know, to protect someone’s life.”

 

“I have a feeling that the threat to Judy’s life every time she’s with that pred is pretty well justifying the use of the muzzle.”

 

“Fuck you, you flea-bitten assholes.” At the moment, that was the only thing she could say through the anger and indignity of their comments that was choking her. Judy got up off the chair, awkwardly arranging her crutches underneath her before heading for the back door. She pulled it open with one paw and pushed the screen door open with her uninjured foot. She could tell that everyone had been shocked by her words. Then they all surged to their feet and started yelling incredulously.

 

Louder than all of them, of course, was her father. “JUDITH LAVERNE HOPPS, YOU WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!” She ignored him.

 

She hobbled awkwardly across the porch and somehow made it down the steps without killing herself before anyone caught up with her. She turned toward them to snap, except she found herself facing the overall-covered chest of a fox. She looked up into the face of Gideon Grey.

 

“Well, judgin’ by the screamin’ that y’all have been doing, I’d say something’s got your family mighty upset,” he commented to her. “Hey, what happened to you, Judy?”

 

“Long story,” she sighed and gave the fox a one-armed hug. “It’s good to see you again, Gideon. I’m sorry I can’t stay and chat, but I can’t be around my family right now, and they’ll probably be after me in a minute.”

 

“S’all right,” he said, falling into step beside her as she slowly made her way across the carrot fields. “I don’t mind takin’ a walk with you, especially if your family’s done got a hive of bees stuck up in their bonnets. What happened?”

 

“They’re unashamedly verbally attacking and threatening my boyfriend, and accusing him of somehow afflicting me with Stockholm syndrome.”

 

“That don’t sound much like them.”

 

“I didn’t think it would happen,” she muttered. “I guess I should have known better.”

 

“I’m surprised that they’re not leapin’ for joy that you’ve finally found a mate,” he said, sounding a little confused. “Just the other week your da’ was complainin’ to me about how he thought you needed to find a mate soon, otherwise you’d never find a respectable rabbit to have a warren with.” Judy clenched her jaw and her ears stiffened against her head again. “Uh, sorry. Probably not what you really wanted to hear right now, huh?”

 

She sighed again in exasperation, more with herself than the fox beside her. “Don’t worry about it, Gid,” she told him. “My parents have been telling me the same thing since I moved to the city. They just don’t get it, though! They’ve always told me that for a rabbit, settling for an option is the best we should ever strive for, but now that I’ve found someone who makes me happy just the way our relationship stands right now, they seem to be furious with me! Well, not my mom; she just wants me to be happy. But everyone else.”

 

“Is he a rabbit?”

 

“Well, no.”

 

“That’ll probably be why. Your da’ an’ even Vince – heck, especially Vince – were none too happy when Al came home with Sara, her being an’ ewe, an’ all. Even your sisters decided to wait for a rabbit before they went about introducin’ their partners to your parents.”

 

“I know. It’s just frustrating to finally find someone that I actually care about, who cares about me just as much, and that fully supports me in my career, only to have almost everyone _else_ that I care about shooting him down the second they meet him without even getting to know him.”

 

“Now that really sets off some alarm bells about your folks.” Judy could hear the _scritch-scritch_ of his claws as he itches at the fur on his neck. She didn’t turn around. She was trying to trace Nick’s footprints in the loose soil. It wasn’t easy, but she was managing. “What kind of animal is your mate?”

 

“He’s a fox.” It took Judy a few moments to realize that Gideon had stopped and thus fallen behind. She stopped hobbling for a moment to allow him to catch up.

 

“You’re… you’re dating a fox?” His voice sounded incredulous, uncertain, and almost… _joyful?_

 

“Yeah. Why? Something wrong with that?”

 

“No, no!” He chuckled. “I just never would have pictured a bunny like yourself dating a fox… especially you, after what happened when we were kids.”

 

“Gid—“

 

“Though I guess if there ever were a bunny who’d date a fox, it’d be you. You’re probably one of the most acceptin’ an’ understandin’ rabbits that I’ve ever met.”

 

Judy’s expression softened as she turned back to give the fox a smile. “Thanks Gideon, that means a lot to me.”

 

He chuckled and scratched his neck again. “Aww, shucks, Judy, it was nothin’.” Then he got a pensive look. “Hey, you think you’d mind introducin’ me to your mate sometime? I’d love to meet the fox lucky enough to have caught your heart.”

 

They passed the rutabaga field and Nick’s paw prints turned north. Judy suddenly knew to where Nick had disappeared. “Sure. You might be able to meet him now, actually. Just a sec.” Judy stopped, pulled out her phone and shot Nick a quick text.

 

 _How are you?_ She only had to wait a moment for the reply.

 

_Better. Blueberry smell helps._

 

_Good. Do you mind company?_

_Just you?_

_I’ve got a friend with me, but he doesn’t have to come if you don’t want him too._

_As long as it’s not your brothers, it’s cool._

**

Nick was still sitting there with his eyes closed when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He tested the wind and caught Judy’s ever-familiar scent, and the other one… He had to rub his nose to make sure he got the blueberry smell out of his nostrils so it didn’t confuse him, but when he pulled his paw away, he realized that it actually _was_ another fox that was trailing along with Judy.

 

Nick looked over to see the two of them walk into the clearing. Judy was really tense, but her expression said she didn’t want to talk about it. Behind her was a fox wearing a pair of blue overalls and a lighter blue polo shirt underneath. He had some weird part to his hair that Nick found even stranger than Ricky’s, and an expression that read excited and nervous. Compared to Judy, this guy was absolutely massive. And while Nick may have been slightly on the shorter side for a fox, this guy still stood a good head and a half taller, at least.

 

“Hey Nick. This is my friend Gideon. Gid, this is my boyfriend and police partner Nick Wilde.

 

“Well, shucks,” Gideon said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. “It sure is nice to meet you, Officer Wilde. I’ve heard a lot about you on the news, an’ all, an’ especially how you’re becoming a police officer is really starting to help change the way people think about foxes, even way out here.”

 

Nick had been prepared for something a little less awe-inspired, but he didn’t let it faze him and quickly plastered a grin on his face. “Always happy to help. And I’m glad things have been going better for you all the way out here; from what I’ve seen of her family, things out in Bunnyburrow can’t be very easy for a fox.”

 

“Aww, her family ain’t all that bad, once you get to know ‘em. Sure Vince an’ Al ain’t huge on foxes, but they’re about the only ones. Everyone else seems to follow Judy’s lead and doesn’t really have a problem with us anymore. But most of the others around here never really treated us different than we deserved, an’ when we showed we were sorry, they accepted an’ let bygones be bygones. Kinda like Judy here.”

 

“Well I’m glad you’re not bothered too much. I’ve heard pie-making is a delicate business, and I’d hate for the pastries to suffer because of a little prejudice.” His grin widened. Judy just rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm. “Ow!”

 

“Ignore him, Gideon. He’s always just trying to get a laugh out of you.”

 

Gideon did laugh, and seemed to finally relax a little bit as he launched into a joke-off with Nick. Judy just groaned and pulled her ears over her eyes in mock exasperation. “Gideon! Not you too!” Both foxes just laughed at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone notice the reference to Sigmund Freud? (Inspired by the "every time you call your boyfriend daddy" post which I saw on tumblr). Cheers to you if you did!


	6. Chapter 6

“That one’s Aries, the ram who challenged the mammoths – and won. And that one’s Sirius the wolf. Legend says that he fell in love with the moon and would howl every night to show his affections. And that one’s Orion, the great hunter.”

 

“Huh. Everyone I know has always called that one Robin Hood. Rob the rich and give to the poor. He’s my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, you know.”

 

They were lying under the stars in one of the unused fields near the back of the Hopps farm. Judy knew all the constellations from an old book on astronomy that her parents had in one of the reading rooms in the warren. Nick had brought up how he’d never seen the stars so clearly before, and Judy had jumped at the chance to display her superior knowledge (a very rare occurrence).

 

“No way, Slick. You’re just bluffing!”

 

Nick laughed. “You know I’m not. I saw you looking at that family tree poster that I’ve got hanging in the living room of my place.”

 

“Yeah, but I was more curious about your dad’s side than your mom’s.”

 

“Aha! So you _did_ pick up on the fact that I’m related to Robin Hood!”

 

“Well, I mean...” Judy stomped her good foot in exasperation. The fox had caught her. “Fine, I may have noticed it at one point. But that doesn’t mean that it’s true!”

 

“Actually, it is. My mother was named after Robin Hood’s wife, her great-great-great-great-grandmother. And her great-great-grandmother. And her grandmother. It ended up being a pretty common name in my family, for whatever reason.”

 

“And let me guess, you were given Robin Hood’s real name?”

 

“Nah, my mom just liked the name Nicholas. She was kind of weird in that way.” Judy just laughed and shook her head.

 

The two of them had sat with Gideon for a little while, until – realizing what time it was – he had decided to rush back to his truck and pick up the veggies that he was supposed to be baking into pies the next morning. The two of them had migrated into a different field, wary of being caught by any of Judy’s 275 siblings – especially the older ones, who knew about Nick’s love of blueberries.

 

All of a sudden, Judy’s stomach grumbled. With a start, she realized she hadn’t eaten anything since her pancakes that morning. It had been close to fourteen hours since she had eaten. Even by the standards of academy endurance training, that was a lot. She sighed and bit back the thought of going back to see if she could raid the kitchen for anything at this time of night. Even now, when she knew everyone was asleep.

 

“Still peeved about what happened earlier?”

 

Judy started as the fox read her mind. She guessed she shouldn’t be surprised; it had been his business to read animals and find out how to make money off them for a good two decades, and she wasn’t exactly good at hiding her emotions.

 

“I… yeah. But more about the stuff that happened after you left.”

 

“Do I want to know?”

 

“Probably not. Long story short, they were being really mean and aggressive, and I kind of lost my tempter with them.” Nick nodded simply, as if they were discussing a turn in the weather, though she figured he could probably guess. There was no use stressing him out even more with the actual details. “What do you think I should do?”

 

“Hmm…” He waited long enough that she thought he was actually considering it, then just when she was getting impatient, he came out with, “Go snag one of Gideon’s blueberry pies, sneak back out without anyone noticing you, and come here so we can share it. Maybe grab some plates too.”

 

“Kinda hard for a disabled rabbit to sneak around, you dumb fox.” She sighed in exasperation. He just chuckled in response. “Besides, I was referring to my family issues, and not your stomach.”

 

“And I was referring to _your_ stomach, Carrots. After all, it sounded fierce as a wolf’s snarl.” He grinned at her. She just glared in response. “Give it a few days; they’ll probably have forgotten about it by this time tomorrow, and then you won’t have to worry about it from then on.”

 

She sighed. “I hope you’re right, Nick. Because if this is going to be the way it is for the rest of our stay here, I’m not sure I’ll be able to take it.”

 

They made their way back to their room, taking one of the outlying elevators all the way down to the bottom floor of the complex. Everything was silent, and all the lights were set really low. This wasn’t a problem for Nick, but Judy had a little bit of trouble seeing where she was going. She silently thanked genetics that Nick’s fur colour was so vibrant so that she was able to follow him easily.

 

When they got back to their room, they found Bonny waiting on the bed a covered tray beside her and a mug of tea in her paws. She got up when she saw them. Judy noticed that she looked better than she had when she’d left the kitchen to make dinner after their argument had finally finished.

 

“I thought you two might be hungry, since I didn’t see you at the dinner table,” she told them before they could say anything. “So I brought you down some of the leftover stew from tonight’s meal.”

 

“Thanks, Mom,” Judy said, giving her mother an awkward hug. Nick just gave her a smile and bent to pick up the covering on the tray. Immediately the room was filled with the warm scents of the stew.

 

“This smells delicious, Mrs. Hopps! What’s in it?” Nick asked.

 

“It’s parsnip, rhubarb and summer leek. And please, Nick, call me Bonnie.”

 

“Of course, Bonnie,” Nick replied graciously. He helped Judy get settled on one of the cushions on the floor and handed her a bowl of stew before dropping into a cross-legged position beside her with his own.

 

Bonnie watched them contentedly for a moment before turning towards the door. Just before she left the room, however, she turned back to them. “Judy, dear, from now on please refrain from using language like you did earlier around the farm, by the way. I understand that maybe in the city it’s acceptable, and your father and I won’t try to control what you do with your life while you live there, but we ask that you still try and remember our rules while you’re living with us. And that goes for you too, Nick, though so far you’ve been a model mammal.”

 

“Yes, Mom,” Judy sighed.

 

Bonnie nodded. “Good. Sleep well, you two. And if you need anything, your father and I are just in the next room over, Judy.” She closed the doors behind herself.

 

“You swore at your parents earlier?” Judy shot Nick a glare. “It’s a legitimate question! Unless you bunnies have some weird definition of crass language, that is.”

 

“I kind of cussed out my dad and my brothers right before I stormed out.”

 

Nick laughed. “Come on, now tell me how that went down!” He took another spoonful of stew into his mouth as he waited for her reply.

**

Nick woke up the next morning to find himself curled around Judy’s sleeping form. The doctor had said both of them were supposed to sleep on their backs, but they must have shifted from that position overnight. He could feel the inhale and exhale of her breath on his collarbone, and he noticed that he was able to curl himself fully around her, snout to tail. It felt nice to wake up like this, next to someone who he actually knew and cared about.

 

He shifted ever so slightly, but it immediately brought her head up. He slowly uncurled from around her warm body and returned to his original position on his back. Judy leaned over and gave him a loving – if somewhat tired – smile. “Good morning!”

 

Nick chuckled and brushed the sleep out of his eyes. “Morning, Carrots. Sleep well?”

 

She nodded vigorously. “Yeah, really well! Actually, better than I have in a long time. What about you?”

 

“Surprisingly? The same. I don’t know if it was because of the mattress, the long day yesterday, or the fact that I had my own personal radiator, but I feel much more rested than I normally do.”

 

“Oh, hush! You know rabbits can’t control their body temperatures!”

 

“Relax, Carrots. I never said it was a bad thing.”

 

She huffed. “So, since you say you’re so well rested today, Officer Wilde, does that mean you’ll forgo the coffee?”

 

He got a stricken look on his face. “What? Give up my coffee for the day? Never!”

 

“Okay, but just remember, there aren’t any big chain coffeeshops around here, or even any local cafes nearby. So you’re going to have to get some coffee in the kitchen, just like everyone else!”

 

“So? Why would that be a big deal?”

 

“My dad likes his coffee _strong_. And at this point in the day, he’s the only one who’s going to be having any, so his will be the only pot of it there.”

 

“Your dad really drinks coffee at this point in the day?” Nick asked, checking the time on his phone. “It’s ten o’clock in the morning! I’d have expected him to need to get the caffeine into his system already, especially if he’s as early a riser as you are. Speaking of which, how long have you been up, Fluff?”

 

“For a few hours. I was just too comfortable with you wrapping me up like that to move. And my dad can easily have three pots from the time he wakes up to noon, and then another few pots between lunch and dinner.”

 

“Okay, even for a city-mammal, that’s a lot of coffee.” She giggled at his response.

 

The two of them disentangled themselves and got ready. At Judy’s insistence, Nick turned around until she at least had her pants and sports bra on. He didn’t really see the big issue – he’d seen lots of mammals in the nude before because of his former membership at the Oasis Springs naturalist club, and he had never exactly been celibate. But Judy still seemed to be embarrassed to even be changing in the same room as the fox.

 

“You know, for being one of the oldest in such a large family, you’d think that you wouldn’t care about people seeing you nude all the time,” he teased her as they made their way towards the actual kitchen area. “Like, did none of your siblings ever walk in on you at the wrong moment?”

 

She shrugged uncomfortably. “It’s different with us. Siblings in the same litter have no issues with it; growing up, we all share a room regardless of gender, and so we get used to _them_ seeing us naked. And if things happen and for whatever reason one of my brothers sees me naked, it isn’t a big deal because they’re _family_ , they’re not going to look at me in a bad way. And besides, I’ve seen most of them naked more times than I can count when I helped give them baths and such, so it’s a little more relaxed.”

 

“So in other words, it’s just around me?”

 

“Well, I mean, it’s kinda more just around _anyone_ that’s not part of my family. Like, would you feel comfortable if one of my siblings walked on you while changing?”

 

Nick shrugged. “Personally, I wouldn’t care. There were a few rabbits at the Oasis Springs while I was there, so it wouldn’t be the first time. Though they might get a little jealous if they saw anything that’s normally covered.” He snickered and then snickered harder at the expression on his partner’s face.

 

“Nick!” She was blushing so hard she could feel it right to the tips of her ears, but his words made her strangely excited. While she had obviously known – or rather, sincerely hoped – that Nick was bigger than a rabbit, to hear him talk like that turned her on a little bit. Not for the first time, she wondered if it had something to do with his musk; she found it very pronounced sometimes, and it _always_ turned her on.

 

Nick just chuckled, but changed the subject as they stepped out the door. No use saying something that he’d regret around one of her younger siblings.

 

Finally, they got to the kitchen. From his experience, it was the size of a large industrial kitchen, with multiple rows of stoves, ovens, and countertops for food preparation. The back wall was covered in cabinets and cupboards for storing food and other cooking and dining equipment. The kitchen was surprisingly empty right then, save for two lone rabbits who looked to be in their early teens doing dishes in a sink that Nick at first mistook for a bathtub. There was another countertop completely covered in pots, which Nick presumed was from the previous night’s dinner.

 

The two rabbits gave a cursory glance in their direction, but quickly went back to the task at hand. Judy hobbled over to another countertop on which were several old-school coffeemakers. One of them was almost full, another one looked to be almost empty.

 

Nick reached up and grabbed two mugs from the cupboard that Judy pointed at. Nick set about pouring himself a coffee in one of the mugs, while Judy poured herself some milk from a carton that she removed from one of the industrial sized refrigerators that dotted the walls of the kitchen.

 

“So, what’s up with those two?” Nick murmured, nodded at the two rabbits standing at the sink. “They skipping school because they love doing dishes?”

 

“With the sheer sizes of most rabbit families in Bunnyburrow, it can easily take a day to do all the dishes from the previous night’s dinner. So, as part of their chores, the kids take a day off school about once a month to take turns doing them. It saves the parents from having to do it, and all the teachers understand.”

 

“Really? They’re allowed to take days off school to do chores?”

 

Judy nodded, ears perking up and smirking at the backs of the rabbits in front of them, who were very obviously listening to what the fox was discussing with their sister. “Yeah, most families have about three or four kids per day that they keep home to do chores; we’ve got six. Two for dishes, two to help Dad in the fields, and two who do the laundry and general cleaning. And once those on dish-duty are done, they go help laundry with cleaning the warrens.”

 

Nick just took a sip of his coffee instead of replying. The he broke out coughing. “You weren’t kidding,” he said between coughs. “This stuff really _is_ strong!”

 

Judy laughed. “It’s basically distilled dark-roast coffee,” she replied. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast and then I can show you around a little bit more.”


	7. Chapter 7

Nick had gone to Bunnyburrow expecting to be met with mild disgruntlement and possibly some fear or hatred. Yet that seemed to be the opposite of the reaction of its denizens, the eldest Hopps brothers excluded.

 

Judy had decided that Nick should know all about Bunnyburrow and the surrounding area, and so every day for the following week, she would call a cab and take him to a different part of the city, where they would spend the day walking around and exploring, with her keeping up a running commentary that even he found impressive.

 

Nick had questioned the logic of going out and exploring at first. “The whole purpose of us being here is to make sure that we’re _not_ discovered,” he reminded her.

 

“Oh, relax; you’re becoming as much a worrywart as my father!”

 

“How dare you?” He growled back at her playfully. “I pride myself on being far more confident in your abilities as a police officer than your father; I also pride myself in believing that if it came down to it– in the instance where you weren’t able to protect yourself, for whatever reason – I would be able to get us out of whatever trouble we encountered.”

 

“You just keep telling yourself that, slick,” Judy giggled, patting him on the arm. “Anyway, it won’t make much of a difference; the people that would know me on sight probably already know that I’m here, and the ones that don’t wouldn’t notice anyway. Besides, I’m not going to head out of here dressed like I normally would; I’ll probably put on a sundress or something, and a hat to cover my face.”

 

“Two questions. First: since when do you own a sundress? Second: How does everyone already know you’re here? Because if this was turned into some kind of reality show, then I’m just going to say now, _I want out!_ ” He turned his muzzle to look into the mirror that hung beside them, glaring at it as if there were another mammal beside himself in the polished glass.

 

“What are you looking at?”

 

“The hidden camera.”

 

“Nick! There aren’t any hidden cameras behind that mirror!”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“Duh, I checked the first night we got here, remember?”

 

“True. But there could be a mirror in the glass.” He was grinning at her now, letting her know it was just a ruse. She rolled her eyes.

 

“Who would even _want_ to watch a reality TV show about us, huh? Like, come on!”

 

“Oh, I can think of one plump cheetah who wouldn’t mind.”

 

“You mean Ben? Come on, Nick, I know he keeps teasing us about hooking up, but he knows it’s just a joke!”

 

“That’s why he started an office betting pool about our love life?”

 

The smile dropped from her face as she looked at him. He was wearing that conman mask that hid his emotions so well so she couldn’t tell if he was lying or telling the truth. “He-he’s got a betting pool going about our love life?”

 

“Yeah,” Nick nodded sagely, closing his eyes and crossing his arms for effect. “I’ve known about it since the end of my first week; I’m surprised you didn’t.”

 

“Who all is participating?”

 

“Most of the precinct, I think; Stronghorn had his money on us having a one-night stand about a month ago and then getting so awkward about it around each other that I would quit, Delgato thinks we’re going to wait until my one year, then announce to everyone that we’re engaged, Chief Buffalo Butt had his money on… actually, I think he might’ve won the pool; he predicted that we’d get together right in the middle of the Scorpion Fiends case. Which we did.”

 

“Even Chief Bogo was involved in the betting pool? I thought he was totally against workplace fraternization!”

 

“Apparently he doesn’t care as long as it doesn’t distract you from your job. And while it’s technically taboo by ZPD rules, he tends to turn a blind eye to it.”

 

“How do you know all that?”

 

“Clawhauser, who else? He loves to gossip, and after a few beers he has absolutely no reservations about anything. Hey, hey,” Nick added, throwing his paws up at Judy’s glare, “I didn’t order him the drinks, nor did I pay for them. And this was after work. Remember that night that you were out shopping with Fru Fru? I went to dinner with Clawhauser and he decided to have some beer with dinner.”

 

She glared at him some more, then turned away and shook her head, but he could sense the smile creeping up onto her snout.

 

“So, how _does_ everyone who knows you already know that you’re here in Bunnyburrow?”

 

“I have 275 siblings, and like you said, we weren’t exactly sneaky with our entrance. They were telling their friends before Mom and Dad could round them up and tell them to keep quiet.”

 

“Well, now Bogo is officially going to kill us.”

 

“Oh, no,” Judy smiled sweetly at him before leaning in close to his ear. “He adores me. He’s just going to kill you.” Nick let out a long groan.

**

“Hey!” Judy snapped her fingers right beside his ear, startling him and causing him to cringe. The movement sent a jolt of pain rushing through his torso that left him panting for breath. He glared at her for a minute. “Serves you right for ignoring me,” she huffed at him, pulling down the brim of her massive floppy sunhat.

 

“Sorry, got lost in a memory,” he grumbled at her under his breath. He knew she heard what he said, but chose to ignore it.

 

“So do you know where we’re going yet?”

 

“Oh, come on,” he complained. “I’ve never been here before, how am I supposed to know?”

 

“Because I brought you to this area yesterday. And I did promise you a special treat today.” The glint in her eye as she smiled at him was more than enough to set his mind fumbling.

 

 _Damn,_ _that’s never going away apparently,_ Nick thought to himself. She’d been having that effect on him lately. Whenever she looked at him, or whenever he caught her doing something mundane like reading a book, or getting engrossed in a movie, or, hell, even just eating her dinner, his mind started to flutter and his heart soared.

 

Aloud he said, “Are we going to that pub that brews its own craft beer?” He got a small shot of satisfaction out of her mouth dropping open in surprise, then a much larger shot of heat shooting through him as she started to pout at him. _God, she’s cute. And hot. And sexy. And that’s the last thing that I need right now. Keep it together Nick._

“How did you know?”

 

“Simple, sweetheart. Sly fox—“ he pointed to himself, then leaned closer to her ear and breathed, causing her to gasp and sending a shudder down her spine. “—chatty bunny.”

 

“Ch-chatty? What…?”

 

“I overheard you asking your sister Annie if the place was still open, and what their specialties were the other night.”

 

“It’s Anna,” Judy corrected him. She knew Nick was trying to get all of their names straight, but that was no easy task, especially since they had an Anna, an Annie, an Anne, and an Annabelle. “And I thought you weren’t paying attention at the time.”

 

The taxi pulled up to the curb and Judy paid him. Nick got her crutches ready and helped her out and onto them. He was the only one who could do that for her; if anyone else tried to help her she’d just wave them off – or shout them off, if they were being stubborn.

 

He looked around them and noticed for the first time that people were paying attention to them. As in, giving him suspicious looks. He sighed and continued to walk beside his injured partner. He had to admit, the dress that she’d picked out looked wonderful on her. Dappled pale blue and white, and sleeveless for the summer heat. He, for his part, was in khakis and a smoky grey collared shirt – it had been his only nice one, beside the tuxedo white that he reserved for wearing underneath suits. Of course now he had other ones, thanks to his bunny partner.

 

“You know, you look nice,” she said as he held the door open for her. “And here I thought all that you owned was those horrible floral Hawaiian shirts.”

 

“Until we went shopping two weeks ago, this was one of my only nice shirts, so I kept it in a suit bag to keep the dust off of it.”

 

“You know, when a lady complements you, you’re supposed to give her a compliment back.”

 

“Well, Carrots, if I find a lady, I’ll pay her back in kind.” He grinned at her to let her know he was teasing, and had to duck the crutch she jabbed at his head. “Although for the record, I’ve been thinking that you look good as well.” Another jab that he had to dodge. “I’m serious!”

 

“Then let me here you say it!”

 

“Carrots, my lovely companion, you look stunning tonight.” Judy _Humph-e_ d and continued to walk through the other open door. Nick caught up with her while she was waiting in line to get to the podium where the host was helping other guests. He placed his paws on her hips and leaned in close to her ear. “And Judy? I wasn’t lying. You really do look beautiful tonight.” He could feel the shiver travel down her spine again as his breath tickled her ear.

 

He looked up and noticed the disgusted expression of the host as the ram looked at them. He quickly dropped his paws from her waist and his mocking grin slid back into his usual easy smile, which he used to help placate the ram. “Table for two, please.”

 

The ram gave him a glare. “There’s a wait of several minutes, sir, for a table for two. If you’ll wait to the side, I’ll have you seated once the table becomes available.”

 

Judy and Nick moved off to the side as the next group in line came up to the host’s podium. And the next group. And then the couple after them, who got seated right away. As did the couple after them and Nick clearly heard the older man asking for a table for two. He began to grow frustrated, especially since he was pretty sure it was prejudice either against foxes or against pred-prey couples, judging by the ram’s expression when he had seen Nick touching Judy.

 

Finally, after a few more couples had been seated at tables for two, Judy approached the ram. “Excuse me,” she said, cutting off the group behind her. Nick heard the male skunk at the head of the group curse under his breath, but it seemed like he wasn’t going to do anything to a rabbit on crutches.

 

“I’m sorry, miss,” the host replied to her frostily. “But I asked you to wait. When there is a table available, then we’ll seat you. Until then, you must wait over to the side.”

 

“Well there were several couples that had requested tables for two that came after us who were seated right away. And before you say anything, I’m well aware of this pub’s policy of not allowing groups under six to make reservations in advance, so don’t give me any crap about them having called ahead.”

 

Nick tensed. She had her cop voice out, which worked great when she had her police uniform on, but probably wouldn’t help without the shiny badge pinned to her chest. The ram narrowed his eyes at her and clenched his teeth.

 

“Miss, if you’re going to be difficult, I can easily have you removed from the premises. You were asked to wait. Now, move over and _wait_.”

 

Judy opened her mouth to say something, but Nick put his paw over hers. “Easy there, Carrots. Some things aren’t worth fighting over. And if it takes too long, then we can easily just ask to talk to the manager and see what the holdup is.”

 

Judy pivoted on her good leg to glare up at him, and for a moment he thought she would start arguing with him, too, but after clenching her jaw a few times, she sighed and nodded, moving her way back over to the side which, Nick noticed, lacked any benches.

 

And so they waited. And waited. And by the time Nick checked his phone, he could tell that Judy was finding it hard to keep standing. Heck, she was trembling and leaning up against him. He gave her a gentle nudge and flicked his eyes up to the podium. She nodded and set her jaw, and stood up straight. He took the lead this time, however, because he wasn’t sure if she could contain her emotions. She had a hard time of that in the first place, and the painkillers that they were still trying to get the dosage reduced for weren’t helping.

 

“Excuse me,” Nick said to the man who had just walked in. “I’m sorry, I just need to have a quick word with the host. It won’t take more than a moment, I promise.” The rabbit looked at Nick’s sincerest smile (toothless, of course), down at Judy, back to Nick and then did a double take on Judy, who had her eyes trained on the floor just in case. The rabbit looked back up and Nick and nodded, motioning for him to go first.

 

When Nick turned around and stepped up in front of the host’s podium again, the ram bleated angrily. “Sir! I have already told you to wait! If you refuse to wait, I will have you forcibly removed from this establishment!”

 

“Easy there, I just want to talk to the manager.”

 

“And why would a sleazy fox like you want to talk to the manager, huh? Thinking he’ll be easier to pickpocket than the guests standing right in front of you?” The ram’s sweilling voice had caught the attention of everyone in the room. All eyes turned towards them, and a few mammals at the bar in the back stood up, looking like they were ready to step in and stop any fight that was going to break out. Nick thought fast.

 

Pitching his voice in just the right way so that it carried across the now silent dining room of the pub without seeming like he was yelling, Nick replied with, “I just want to ask him why we’ve been forced to stand in the entryway of the pub for the past half-hour when she—“ he indicated Judy with a wave of his paw “—very clearly has both a broken arm and a broken leg, while several other groups of two have been allowed in and seated without any problems. Groups of two who were very obviously healthy enough to stand for a few extra minutes while they waited for the next available table.”

 

There was a shift of movement among the crowd as they craned to look at the debilitated bunny standing beside him, followed by a murmur of discontent. The ram suddenly seemed to realize that everyone had heard Nick’s words. As he fumbled around for something to say, Nick noticed a rather stocky-looking warthog stand up from the back of the room and make his way over to them. Nick assumed that the animal in front of them was the manager, judging by the tie that he wore around the collar of the plaid shirt, and the nametag clipped to his chest.

 

“Ease off, Andrew,” the warthog said to the ram, patting his grey wool-covered shoulder. Andrew whispered something in the warthog’s ear that Nick couldn't quite catch, but judging from the manager’s change in expression and Judy tensing up beside him, it wasn’t hard to figure out that they were discussing the relationship between the fox and the rabbit.

 

The warthog stepped away and moved over to the side, beckoning Nick and Judy along with him. The ram continued helping the rabbit that had let them through.

 

“Now, what’s this all about, fox?” The warthog asked in a low voice as soon as they were out of earshot of the other customers. “You really expect us to serve you after you very clearly had your paws all over this young rabbit?’ He then turned to Judy. “I’m very sorry you had to go through this ordeal, miss. I promise that this fox will never bother you again – at least not while you’re in my restaurant. And your meal will be on the house tonight.”

 

Nick could practically hear Judy grinding her teeth next to him. He brushed the back of her good leg with the tip of his tail, silently reminding her that they were supposed to be in hiding, and not traipsing all across Bunnyburrow.

 

“Sir, this fox is my best friend, and he’s my partner.” Nick was proud of her for keeping her voice so calm even though he knew that she wanted to tear into this warthog for his stereotyping. Nevertheless, he winced internally at her choice of words. “I came in here with him, and he has my full permission to touch me. Besides, the only thing he did was place his hands on my hips to help steady me because I was loosing my balance. So if you don’t serve him, then you may as well kick me out too, because I’m not going to eat here without him.”

 

The manager kept a patronizing smile on his face as he opened his mouth to answer, but he was cut off by the loud voice of a pair of beavers who were standing in front of Andrew the ram. “Like we said, we’re a table for two but we’re more than happy to wait until the fox and his friend are seated before we take our seats!”

 

“Us as well,” said the elk and the moose that were standing behind the beavers.

 

“Us too!” shouted 3 pairs of jackrabbits. “Seat them, then seat us! But we aren’t going to be seated until they are!” All six of them pointed over to Nick and Judy.

 

The ram got a bewildered expression on his face and glanced at his boss for help. The warthog sighed and motioned towards the two standing in front of them. “Go ahead and seat them, Andrew,” he said with a tired voice. “And as I said before, miss, your entire meal will be on the house tonight.”

 

“Does that include drinks?” The manager turned the shade of red that Nick normally associated with warthogs (of which his primary experience was in bars late at night), but quickly nodded in confirmation as he got several glares from the other mammals waiting in line.

 

Andrew motioned and led them through the restaurant to an empty table set for two beside the window. They sat down and he gave them their menus. “You two are disgusting,” he said, looking at them both in turn with his horizontal square pupils narrowed. “You should be ashamed about being seen in public. Just be thankful that we’re in a semi-respectable restaurant, otherwise you’d be dead.”

 

“You want to speak a little louder there, buddy?” Nick asked in a hard voice. “I’m not quite sure the microphone picked up on what you said.” He gave a meaningful glance down to his phone, which he had placed on the table, then back up at the ram.

 

The mammal looked fearfully back at the fox before backing up, clearing his throat and saying at normal volume, “I’m sorry again for the inconvenience, sir. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.” He turned on his hoof and left.

**

The conversation remained a little strained throughout the rest of their evening, and Nick could tell that Judy was still upset about the way they had been treated, and probably a little sore from having to stand for so long. At one point, Nick noticed that there were more beer glasses on the table than there should have been.

 

“Carrots, how many pints of that craft beer have you had?”

 

“Not-not too many,” she hiccupped. He just looked at her. “I’ve only had 4.”

 

“Four! Carrots, this beer is the strongest that I’ve ever had, how the heck have you managed to have _four_?”

 

“What’s the matter, Nicky?” She hiccupped again, then started giggling. “You should see your face.”

 

Nick sighed. Seemed like she was already drunk, even though it was only 3 in the afternoon. Which meant that she should probably be taking her medication soon… Crap. She was on codeine, and while the last dosage should have worn off by then, it was never a good idea to mix it with alcohol.

 

“Come on, Carrots, let’s get going. We should probably get you back home.”

 

“Oh, re- _lax_. I’m fi-ine!” Another hiccup.

 

“Carrots, what kind of painkillers are you taking right now?”

 

“Codeine?”

 

“And what happens when you mix codeine with alcohol?”

 

Judy looked at him for a moment before clapping a hand to her mouth and saying in a stage whisper, “I could be in a lot of danger, couldn’t I?” That got a lot of glances from the tables around them.

 

“You should be fine,” Nick said, leaning in closer to her so that she could hear him over the din of the pub. “But we really should head back to your place so that we can be sure that you’ll be fine – and not in public – in case anything happens.”

 

Judy nodded, and made as if to get up, apparently forgetting about her crutches. Nick quickly lept over to her and arranged them in front of her so she could grab them. They made their way out of the pub, and once they were on the curb Nick flagged down a cab. “H-Hopps Family Farm, p-please,” she hiccupped at the driver.

 

The drive was long and fairly quiet, until Judy spoke up from where she was curled up against Nick’s side. “What did yo-ou mean when you said that it would be better for us to not be in public?”

 

“Mainly for the fact that you don’t want anyone recognizing you if we had to call the paramedics, in case anything happened,” he murmured against her fur. “Chief Buffalo Butt is already going to have our pelts for the entrance we made earlier at your farm; the last thing we want is for it to be plastered all over the news that we’re here and you got sent to the hospital to have your stomach pumped.”

 

She nodded and snuggled back up against him without a comment, her good arm wrapping around his. He felt uncomfortable lying to her, but he didn’t want to stress her out with the real fact that if anything happened to her in public, someone would immediately call the cops on him, thinking he had gotten her drunk for some nefarious purpose. And of course, none of them would believe that a rabbit would ever willingly enter into any kind of relationship – particularly a romantic one – with a fox without assuming the worst in him.

 

The taxi pulled up in front of the dirt road that led to the farmhouse. Nick stepped out first to go around and help Judy with her crutches. She’d mentioned that she was feeling a little woozy, and he wanted to be able to be beside her the whole way to make sure that she didn’t suddenly collapse.

 

As he leaned back into the cab to pay the driver, however, the old goat grabbed his arm in one cloven hoof. “I don’t know what you’re plannin’ on doin’ with that there bunny, but I will tell ya that if her family finds out that ya’ve drugged her, or drunked her, then they’re gonna have a hissy fit an’ are probably gonna string ya up in the back field. Them there Hopps’s have a real hate-on for foxes, especially th’oldest ones.”

 

“Thank you for the warning, sir. Here’s the fare.”

 

The old goat accepted the crumpled bills and bleated out a laugh. “Ya stupid fox, that ain’t no warnin’. That there was a threat. A lot o’ the folks around here would jump with them at the chance ta string up a fox tha’ tried to assault any kind o’ bunny around here.” Nick wrenched his arm away from the goat and slammed the door behind him as he went to catch up to Judy.


	8. Chapter 8

Nick was leaning against the railing on the back porch when Stu came up from the warrens. The older rabbit had been with Judy and Bonnie in the room that Nick shared with his partner. Judy had gone from feeling woozy to extremely nauseous between the time they exited the cab and when they got to the door. Realizing that this was both a reaction to the alcohol and a worsening of her previous condition, Nick had gotten her to sit down on the steps. And of course, that was where Bonnie had found them.

 

Stu took long, heavy steps up to stand beside Nick on the porch. “How is she?” Nick asked before Stu had a chance to say anything. The rabbit let out a frustrated sigh and pulled a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his overalls. He took one out and stuck it between his lips before offering the pack to Nick. The fox replied by taking one as well, then pulling a lighter from his pants pocket and lighting first Stu’s then his own. He took a few puffs to make sure it was properly lit before holding it between the first two fingers on his left paw.

 

Stu grunted. “Didn’t know you smoked.”

 

Nick shrugged. “Normally I don’t. I never buy my own. If someone offers me one, though, then I’ll accept on occasion.” _Or at least, I won’t refuse if it’s someone I want to like me,_ Nick thought to himself.

 

“Then why do you have a lighter?”

 

“For just situations like this; if I take an offered cigarette, courtesy says that I’m the one who lights it.”

 

“Does Judy know?”

 

Nick shook his head. “I have never smoked around her. Hell, I haven’t accepted a cigarette since I entered the Police Academy. I figured it was better to try and clean out my lungs than to continue to pollute them if I was going to be a cop.”

 

Stu nodded. “Probably a good idea if you continue that way. Jude’s always hated me smoking, sayin’ that it’s going to kill me and all. Plus she hates the smell. If you started too it would just cause problems between you.” They stood in silence for a few more minutes, during which Nick took a drag on his cigarette and exhaled, making sure to keep the smoke out of his nose and away from the rabbit beside him. “She’s always loved the beer at that pub that you two checked out,” Stu continued. “She probably just had a bit too much to drink. Once she’s slept it off, she’ll be fine.”

 

“Did you give her anything for it?” Stu gave him a look, but Nick ignored it, turning to look at the older rabbit and holding his gaze.

 

“Ain’t nothing to give, unless you count maybe some bread. Why, what do you city-slickers give people for being drunk?”

 

Nick laughed and gave Stu an easy grin before turning back to the horizon. “Just ibuprofen and water in the morning.” Secretly, he was relieved. Judy had made him promise not to tell her parents about the codeine unless absolutely necessary. And just in case she asked for it in her drunken state, he had swiped the pill bottle from her toiletries kit on his way out of the room. He was very conscious of the small bottle hidden in his pocket.

 

Now the only thing to do was wait.

 

They went back to standing in silence and smoking as they watched the sun dip down in the western sky. Nick loved the colours; he always found it peaceful to look at something the same colour as him that everyone called beautiful and amazing. Petty and superficial as that was, he enjoyed it in secret nonetheless.

 

At one point Al walked up through the fields and joined them, standing on Nick’s other side. He gave a cursory glare at the cigarette that Nick was stubbing out against the rough wood of the railing. “I’m surprised Judy hasn’t whooped your tail yet for smokin’,” he commented.

 

“First time I’ve smoked since I met her,” the fox replied. “And I don’t plan on continuing, either.” Al just grunted and stared straight ahead.

 

“So what got you into policing, Nick?”

 

Nick was caught off guard by the question. He hadn’t expected Al to talk to him past his comment – or for Judy to have been able to contain her excitement about having a partner. From what she’d told him – and what he’d caught from her brief exchanges with her parents while the two of them were together watching movies or whatnot – she shared a lot about her day-to-day life with her family. At least, when it didn’t involve anything too dangerous.

 

“It was Judy, actually,” Nick replied. “She roped me into helping her solve the Night Howlers case, and somewhere along the line of those 48 hours, we became friends. Just before the press conference, she asked me to join the police force as her partner. It took me a while, but when she came back and we finally solved the case, I found that I just couldn’t say no. She was the first person in a while that had believed in me, and working with her just felt… I don’t know, _right_ somehow. Better than any other job I’d had before that.”

 

“And so you just dropped everything and joined up with the police?”

 

“I was in between jobs at the time, so there wasn’t much for me to drop. All I needed to do was fill out the application and go to the Police Academy.”

 

“I thought you needed a degree for that.”

 

“I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business,” Nick said flatly. Technically it was true; as far as the law was concerned, he had gotten his degree from one of the local community colleges a few years prior; Finnick had a friend in the registrar’s office who slipped in some fake records plus degree when Nick slid him a few hundreds. He decided not to mention that to the bunnies on either side of him.

 

Al just _harrumphed_. There were a few moments of silence before Stu spoke again.

 

“So, Nick. How long have you and Jude been dating?”

 

“Officially, we started dating at 6:30 AM on the day we arrived.”

 

“You only started dating on the way here?”

 

“More importantly,” Al cut in. “How long were you dating unofficially? How long were you seeing each other in any kind of way before that?”

 

Nick smirked. “Well, we were seeing each other pretty well every day between the time that I finished at the academy and the time that we got here. After all, that _is_ what tends to happen when you work with one of your close friends.”

 

“You know what I mean.”

 

“She told me her feelings for me a few days before the rumbling took place. So about 2 and a half weeks ago now. That was also when I realized that I reciprocated those feelings for her.”

 

“And how long have you been sleeping together?”

 

“First time was the night we arrived.”

 

“Excuse me? You went ahead and ravaged my daughter in _my own warren?_ ”

 

“Relax, Mr. Hopps,” Nick replied, giving the rabbit a placating smile. “I have never done anything sexual with your daughter.” The older rabbit gave him a glare, then turned back and snubbed out his own cigarette on the wood.

 

“I’m going inside,” he said before stomping off.

 

As soon as Stu had closed the door to the warrens, Al rounded on Nick and grabbed him by the shoulder. The height difference made it almost comical, until you looked into the bunny eyes made of steel. “What are your intentions with my sister?”

 

“You mean besides stay here and recuperate enough to go back to the city?” Nick asked sarcastically. When the bunny’s paw tightened, Nick sighed. “I don’t want to do anything with your sister. She’s wonderful and amazing and honestly makes me a better person, and I would never do anything that she didn’t want to do. Now if she initiates something, that’s a different story, but then that would be her decision.”

 

Al gave him another hard look and one final squeeze the turned and walked away, heading back inside the warrens. Nick sighed and went back to staring at the darkening horizon.

**

He slipped back into their room in the middle of the night. He’d taken a shower in one of the washrooms to clear the smoke out of his fur. Judy moaned and mumbled in her sleep as he slipped into the bed beside her, his shirt, slacks and towel on the floor beside his suitcase. He had elected to just sleep in a pair of boxers that night.

 

“Nick? Is that you?” She peered at him in the darkness but he knew she couldn’t see him.

 

“Yeah, I’m right here, Carrots.”

 

“Oh, god, my head hurts.”

 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” he replied quietly. “With the amount that you drank I’d be impressed if you _didn’t_ have a headache.” She groaned again and turned away from him onto her side. He shifted onto his side as well and curled himself around her again. He draped his arm over her as her back pressed into his chest. She wrapped her arms around it.

 

“I love you, Nick,” she sighed contentedly, snuggling herself up closer against him. She was asleep before he had a chance to respond.


	9. Chapter 9

Halfway through their second week in Bunnyburrow, almost a month after the rumbling, Nick got a notification from the ZNN app. His ears pressed flat back against his skull and his tail poofed out despite the summer heat. He only got notifications for three subjects: himself, Judy, and news about the rumbling.

 

He opened the app with bated breath.

 

 

**_“SHOCKING” PRECAUTIONS:_ **

**_CITY COUNCIL DECISION SPARKS CONTROVERSY, PROTESTS_ **

_After weeks of deliberation, the Zootopia City Council has come to a decision regarding suggested measures to regulate predatory activity in the city. By the end of the month, all predators within all city jurisdictions will be required to wear aggression-activated shock collars. These will be controlled by microchips implanted under the skin to monitor levels of various hormones including cortisol, testosterone, and adrenaline, which all have links to aggressive behaviour._

_In a statement released by the mayor’s office, Councillor Nikolai Domovoi discussed the impending regulations. “After careful consideration, we [the city council] have come to the decision that regulations regarding predatory behaviour have become rather lax in the past few decades. The council has been debating various types of inhibitors for predatory instincts for a number of years now, but [the rumbling] was the final straw in that debate.”_

_These shock collars and control chips will be manufactured by Animus Technologies, who already supply the shock collars that are used in city detention facilities to help control inmates. The city will be providing these collars and the microchip implant surgery free of charge to all predators._

_However, not all residents of Zootopia are happy with the new regulations. “This is discrimination,” said Jonathan Whitefang-Swift, a lawyer and spokesperson for the Predator Rights Activist Group (PRAG). “Predators regularly live in harmony with their neighbours of all species. To say that now, suddenly, every predator in all the jurisdictions of Zootopia are suddenly going to band together and attack […] is absolutely ridiculous.” It should be noted that only an estimated 1400 predators participated in the rumbling, out of an estimated 316, 000 that inhabit the city._

_PRAG are organizing several peaceful protest rallies against the new regulations, which will take place this Friday in Central Square (Savannah Central), the Fruit Market (Downtown/Rainforest District), Marshland Plaza (Rainforest District), Glacier Falls Industrial Park (Tundratown), and the Oasis Hotel (Sahara Square). All species are welcome, PRAG commented, as long as they respect the peaceful nature of the protest._

 

Nick felt himself trembling as he finished reading the article. _It was actually happening._ The worst nightmare for any predator was actually happening. They were going to be collared. They were going to be controlled _again_ by fears of the prey, no matter how unfounded those fears were.

 

The council decision was putting back predator rights by fifty years. Half a century of work, gone in the blink of an eye. And with only two predators on the entirety of the 40-mammal city council – one of which (Mayor Lionheart) had a criminal record for the abduction of the mammals who went savage during the Night Howler case – there was very little chance of the ruling getting overturned.

 

He shuddered and fell to his knees. The world swam in front of him. He threw up.

**

Judy found Nick just as he was stumbling his way back to the house from the fields. His eyes were wide, his fur was slightly matted and dirty around his mouth, and his ears were pressed back and quivering. “Nick! What happened to you? You look horrible!”

 

Instead of answering, he just shoved his phone into her good paw. She looked down to find it unlocked and already open to the news app. She read the article quickly, feeling herself become more and more enraged with every line. “This… this is…”

 

“A predator’s worst nightmare,” he croaked.

 

“We can’t just let this happen!”

 

“Wha-what can we do?” Nick cleared his throat and spat on the ground over his shoulder. He had a grimace on his face and looked slightly ill.

 

She exited out of the news app and went to the contacts, immediately finding the number for Chief Bogo’s office. She hit the call button then put it on speakerphone.

 

The two of them huddled beside each other, sitting on the porch steps and listening to the ringing of the phone on the other end of the line. Finally, “Hello, ZPD Precinct One, Officer Clawhauser speaking.”

 

“Ben!”

 

“Judy? O-M-Goodness, I’m glad to hear you! I heard you got—“

 

“I’m fine, Ben; and keep your voice down on the other side of the line please, no one’s supposed to know we’re gone.”

 

“Oops! Sorry,” the cheetah replied in hushed tones. “So why are you guys calling me then?”

 

“It’s about the city council’s decision,” Nick said after a moment. They could both hear the cheetah deflate on the other end of the line.

 

“Oh. I wasn’t sure if you’d heard about that yet.”

 

“Just got the notification from ZNN a few minutes ago.”

 

Clawhauser sighed. “I… No, I think it’s better if I pass this off to the chief; he was apparently meaning to call you at some point soon anyway.”

 

“Thanks, Ben.”

 

There was a dial tone for a few moments, then Bogo’s gruff voice came onto the other end of the line. “Hopps, Wilde. This had better be good.”

 

“Shock collars.”

 

“Well that explains why Clawhauser put you through.” They could hear the deep sigh of the water buffalo, even though they knew he covered the receiver whenever he did that on the phone to mask the sound. “Let me guess: Wilde, you found out and immediately ran to tell Hopps, who then called us here to confirm that this wasn’t just some kind of baloney. Correct?”

 

“I… yes, sir.”

 

“Hopps, you’re hopping mad – pardon the pun – and you want to know what we’re doing to counter this, and how you can help?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“You can’t do anything to help. You’re on medical leave right now for a reason, and it will stay that way until further notice. No arguments here, Hopps; I won’t change my answer and if you try I’ll make sure to _extend_ your leave indefinitely. In the meantime, we’re working with the Predator Rights Activist Group to come up with a different and more sustainable solution that benefits both sides, while at the same time petitioning the city council to remove their most recent regulation. Does that satisfy your questions?”

 

“What happens to the predators that are already on the force?” Nick asked. “Will we be collared too?”

 

Bogo snorted. “We’ve come to an agreement with the city council; as long as this regulation stands, all predators on the force have to wear collars. However, their microchips will be adjusted to only activate the collars at a higher level of detected hormones while the officers in question are on duty.”

 

Nick swallowed and started trembling again.

 

“But, chief, why are we just letting this happen? I mean, it isn’t right! It isn’t fair!”

 

“I’m aware of that, Hopps, and like I said, we are working to have this legislation removed entirely. However, we _cannot_ allow ourselves to start disrespecting the law in full view of the public. We are there to _protect_ and _serve_ , and as long as we are required to force other predators to wear these collars, our own predators must be willing to wear them as well.” Here his voice softened. “I feel the same as you two, that this is entirely wrong and that these collars are simply an abomination. _That_ is why the department is working towards the repealing of the new law. However, until we are able to do so, we must adhere to the law and continue to uphold it to the best of our ability.”

 

“Thank you, sir,” Nick said before Judy could argue any further. “And thank you for taking the time to talk with us and not just slamming the door in our faces.”

 

There was a moment of silence on the other end. “I’m not sure if you’re sincere or not, Wilde, but that sounded heartfelt, so you’re welcome. Delgato and McHorn have been assigned to the Tri-Burrow area for the implants and distribution, so you should be seeing them soon. I’ll send them along with a specialized collar and microchip for you.”

 

“Thank you sir,” Judy said again, this time her voice more controlled. Nick just nodded even though he knew the chief couldn’t see him.

 

“Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

 

“No sir, not unless you want to hear me complain about the two dozen times I got poked by needles from that mandatory doctor’s visit that you requested.”

 

Bogo snorted again. “I’ll pass. I’m glad that the primary medical exam went well, though; I’m also going to talk to the doctor about the dosage on your painkillers that you requested in your last email to me.”

 

“Thank you sir! That would be very much appreciated!” The buffalo snorted one more time and then they said their goodbyes.

 

Nick leaned his head against her shoulder, and she could still feel him trembling slightly. She reached her right arm around to press him close to her. “It’ll be alright, Nick,” she murmured in his ear. “We can get through this.” He nodded but didn’t move his head off of her shoulder. “So what happened to you before you came running to find me?”

 

“I…” He coughed briefly. “I threw up just after I read the article. A few times. I don’t think that second cup of coffee I had today was a good idea.”

 

“Well that would explain why you’re shaking so much. Do you want some ginger root to help settle your stomach?”

 

“Blech.” He pulled a face and leaned away from her. “Does that actually even work?”

 

“That’s what my parents gave me any time I had a stomach ache. It’s also part of the reason that there hasn’t been a Hopps child in generations that missed school because of a stomach-ache.”

 

“Really? That’s pretty impressive. There are how many children per generation, again?”

 

“The average is about a hundred per pair of rabbits. So it gets to be quite the number per generation. We only really know any of the children from our closest siblings, who are usually our littermates.”

 

“Wait, so you mean that even for rabbits, your family is abnormally large?” Judy nodded brightly and giggled at the look of mild panic in his eyes. “How the heck does your family support everyone, then? And especially since there’s, what, 2 litters that are born in a year? Talk about college tuition.”

 

“3 litters born in a year, averaging about 4 rabbits apiece,” Judy replied, rolling her eyes. “And those of us that go to post-secondary mostly get in on a scholarship; that’s the only way I was able to go to Mammoth Falls University.”  
  
“You went to MFU? Isn’t that like-“

 

“One of the most expensive post-secondary institutions in the country? Yeah, but it also has one of the best criminal justice programs in the country, too.”

 

“And you got a full scholarship to attend?”

 

“Almost. It payed my tuition, but I had to pay my living expenses. It was a good thing I worked all throughout high school and saved everything I earned.”

 

“Wow, Carrots, that’s… I didn’t realize that you were so focused on your goal that you would go to all those lengths to make sure you got it. I’m more impressed now than I was before.”

 

“Thanks,” she said, puffing up in pride. “My grandma always likes to joke about how I’ve set the bar too high for my siblings and all the Hopps cousins, with all these things.”

 

“Just make sure you can hold onto the high bar,” Nick teased her, tugging on her ear gently. She yanked away and gave him a surprised look, her nose twitching. He felt a stab of guilt at her reaction, realizing that maybe that was insensitive in bunny culture just a moment too late. He shrugged it off and continued. “High bars are notoriously slippery, especially if you look down.”

 

She looked at him for another moment, conscious of his grinning face, then looked away, a sombre expression on her face. “I _will_ continue being a cop,” she muttered to herself. “And I won’t let anything stop me.”

 

Nick wrapped his tail around her waist and scooted closer to her. “And I’ll be right there beside you every step of the way,” he said, nuzzling at her neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 is being posted tomorrow in two parts (all on the same day). 
> 
> ***You do not need to read Part 1 to understand Part 2. Same story, different rating. If you don't want to read the explicit chapter, you can skip to Part 2.***
> 
> The first part of the chapter is rated EXPLICIT. TW for implied sexual assault and police brutality, and for physical assault, drug use, drug overdose, and death. 
> 
> The second one is the same story, but not as... devastating, is the best word I can come up with for it. I'm sorry in advance.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the EXPLICIT VERSION. 
> 
> ***You do not need to read Part 1 to understand Part 2. Same story, different rating. If you don't want to read the explicit chapter, you can skip to Part 2.***
> 
> TW for implied sexual assault and police brutality, and for physical assault, drug use, drug overdose, and death.

_Nick was walking through the streets of Happytown. It was dark. If there were any lampposts that still had working bulbs, those bulbs had been stolen, the exterior glass smashed and laying in fragments on the ground._

_Nick walked faster. Happytown wasn’t a place that you wanted to be wandering around after dark. His mother had always told him that savage predators high on dangerous drugs roamed the streets at night, looking for food like they had gone savage. Nick had seen it before. He had glanced into an alleyway at the wrong time and saw a pair of half-clothed hyenas on all fours, ripping apart a zebra carcass. He’d rushed home after that and had thrown up. It was… it had been… disturbing._

_He passed one of the defunct streetcars that used to run through the area when he was a kid, but now sat lonely and abandoned, windows smashed, cannibalized for parts, whatever was left having been painted with neon spray-paint and the blood of the animals that came here to take their hits of ket, stained with the bodily fluids of the animals that overdosed and the animals that were dragged here in the middle of the night, drunk, drugged, or just knocked unconscious. The mammals of all species that became just another toy for whatever predators were there that night._

_A sudden growl to his right made him jump, and suddenly he was staring at the foam-laden jowls of a rabies-crazed black panther. Nick backed away slowly, up the steps of the building behind him, and the panther followed, pressing its face closer and closer with every passing inch. In a desperate move, he kicked the panther in the jaw and leapt at the door behind him, scrabbling at the knob, planting his shoulder and pushing with all his might._

_With a grating sound, the heavy oak door shifted and Nick was inside in a flash, pressing his back against the door. It closed with a snap, but threatened to give with a sudden impact. Bracing his feet on the floor, eyes closed, he pressed with all his might to keep the door closed._

SLAM!

 

_Breath in. Breath out. Breathe in—_

SLAM!

_Breath. Just breathe. Just—_

SLAM!

 

 _There was a growl outside the door. A yowl. Nick could hear the_ click-clack _of claws on the cement of the steps as the big cat paced around outside, but finally it leapt away. Nick let out a sigh of relief, but that breath got sucked back into his chest as he heard the muffled voices of police. Officer Longhorn and Officer Becker, two of the roughest and least understanding of the cops that patrolled Happytown. Nick had almost gotten beaten by them as a kid for trying to buy a candy bar in a convenience store. They didn’t believe that he’d found the five-dollar bill lying on the ground on the street outside._

_They pounded on the door. “Police! Open up!”_

_Nick scrambled away from the door and down the hallway as they pounded a second time. And a third time. Just as he managed to turn a corner, he heard Officer Longhorn smash down the door. Nick raced down the second hallway and through the doorway at the end, intent on getting away from the police as fast as he could._

_Suddenly Nick was tumbling down a stairway into a well-lit basement room. He looked up and the first thing he saw was the red pine tree on the yellow background._ Oh, no… _he thought to himself as suddenly he was surrounded by laughter._

_“Are you ready?” The zebra. Nick had never learned his name._

_“I… I—“_

_More laugher. “Come on, fox,” Lou the hippo sneered at him. “Get up. What are you waiting for?” He felt himself get kicked in the opposite side by a hoof, which led to more laughter._

_“What are you waiting for, fox?” they all demanded, chanting in unison. “What’s a matter, fox? What’s a matter fox?”_

_Nick couldn’t speak. Every time he opened his mouth, they kicked him. Every time he moved, they laughed at him and jumped on him. He tried to get up but they pinned him to the ground. Joey, the capybara that was the ringleader of the whole troop, pressed down oh him, and forced a muzzle over his mouth._

_Nick struggled, and struggled, and struggled, but every time he moved they kicked him. His ribs were sore. His ribs were_ broken _, and he still couldn’t move._

_Joey moved out of the way, and suddenly there was Nick’s mother, the same way she’d looked the last time he’d seen her, when he was seventeen. Before the police had found her, broken body lying under a bridge where the attackers had left her minutes before. Before the paramedics had gone in to try and restart her heart, only to be forced to pull out 6 bullets from the organ first. Before they’d brought her into the operating room for 4 hours._

_She looked at him, and he could just see her heart breaking as she watched her only son getting muzzled like a criminal by these_ children _, forced to the floor and beaten just like his father had been all those years ago. She couldn’t bear to turn away, and neither could he. The pooling tears broke with the third kick to his side, and he couldn’t tear his gaze from them as they sifted through the fur on her face, once a beautiful russet, now mostly greyed with grief and stress._

_A gunshot. Blood spurted from her chest. She collapsed._

_“No… No! Mama! Mama! MAMA!”_

_Suddenly the Junior Ranger Scouts disappeared, only to be replaced by the wolf with the bloody maw. Nick saw a pair of hyenas tearing at his mother’s carcass, ripping the dark pink material of her dress to shreds. He felt a growl rising in his throat, but it turned into a whine as he saw the two jackals dragging in a rabbit._

_His rabbit._

_Silver fur. Black-tipped ears. A pale pink flannel shirt and dark blue work pants. Violet eyes stretched wide in terror._

_Judy._

_His Judy._

_The jackals stopped dragging her, and she sprang up, bolting for the door – until she got to Nick, still lying on the floor, still muzzled, still panting in fear and shock. And then she stopped, and she stared at him, a faint trace of recognition and_ caring _in her eyes…_

_The jackals lunged. The rabbit screamed. The fox watched in horror, helpless, as teeth tore flesh and he was covered in the blood of the woman he loved._

**

Judy heard a sudden scream… a sudden scream that sounded an awful lot like the fox that was supposed to be sleeping beside her. She cracked open her eyes to find that he was sitting up on the edge of their bed, scrolling down an app on his phone. The light was turned up, illuminating his face from underneath, making his cheek look hollow and his eye seem sunken into the socket.

 

“Nick?”

 

“Hey Fluff.” He didn’t look at her.

 

“What are you doing? Do you even know what time it is?”

 

“It’s 3:30 in the morning, and I’m looking at pictures on my phone.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Couldn't sleep.”

 

“That’s the last thing you usually have a problem with.”

 

“Not tonight.”

 

“Nick, what’s wrong? Something must be bothering you if you decided to get up and _do_ something instead of just laying in bed.”

 

“Don’t worry about it, Judy. It’s nothing.” He still wouldn’t look at her.

 

It took her a moment to realize that he had said her name. Her real name. She crawled over to him and pressed herself into his side. He winced, sliding his paw between them and rubbing his side. He still didn’t look up from his phone.

 

“Nick…”

 

“Go back to sleep. You need your rest.”

 

“And you don’t?”

 

“I’ll be fine.”

 

She crawled up into his lap, pushing away the paw that was holding his phone and pressed her head under his chin. “Please, Nick. Don’t push me away. I want to help you. What is it?”

 

He started trembling. “Judy… Please, just…” The trembling only got worse as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Under his arm, she noticed that he’d dropped his phone onto the bed. The screen was full of pictures of a vixen a few years younger than Nick, but who already had streaks of grey in her fur, especially around her muzzle.

 

The picture right in the middle of the screen was of the vixen with a young kit sitting beside her on a park bench, both of them smiling and licking ice cream from dripping cones. Judy recognized it; Nick had the same one on his nightstand.

 

They were all pictures of his mom. She hadn’t even known he’d had that many pictures of her, let alone on his phone. But it was because of that that she started to piece together what was happening.

 

“You had a nightmare about your mom, didn’t you?” The trembling got worse. She felt a single teardrop slide down onto her fur from his muzzle. “Nick, whatever it was, it was just your mind reacting to the shock of the news from earlier. Whatever it was, it wasn’t real—“

 

“ _It was real!_ ” Nick rasped deep in his throat, startling her. Then all of a sudden his arms were around her, clenching her tight to his body. She could tell it was painful for him from the great, jagged gasps of air that he was taking, but she made no move to get away. In that moment, there was nothing she wanted more than to be pressed tightly to her fox, to never stop pressing her face into his fur the colour of copper. She never wanted him to let go and stop clenching her to his molten heart.

 

She reached up her good paw and started to gently stroke from between his ears down the back of his head, comforting him in the only way she knew how as Nick’s heart-shattering sobs echoed around the room and reverberated in the black cavities of pain in their chests.

**

They were lying in bed. Judy was curled up in his arms with her back pressed against his chest. That was the most comfortable position for them, without breaking contact. It had taken a good hour or more to help Nick calm down enough that he could move again – or even comprehend her – but now they both wanted to be as close to each other as they could. Judy had his tail pressed up against her front, part of her revelling in the soft fur, part of her enjoying the warmth from both sides, and the rest of her still slightly freaking out about Nick’s nightmare.

 

He’d told her, finally. Through many starts and stops, he told her the gist of the night terror. And even that toned-down version scared the crap out of her. But it also made her more determined than ever to do everything she could to help protect her fox.

 

“Judy…” She strolled her fingers through his tail-fur to let him know that she was awake and listening. “I’m sor—I'm sorry that you had to go through that with me. I’m sorry that I woke you and I’m sorry that I scared you with my stupid nightmares and I’m sorry—“

 

She twisted in his grip and grabbed him tight to her, burying her face in the lush fur on his neck. “Stop it, Nick,” she said, her voice muffled. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

 

“I do, Judy, and I am sorry for—“

 

“No,” she said, pulling her face out of his fur and looking up at him. “Don’t apologize to me, Nick! I’m your partner! Anything you’re going through, I’ll be right there with you, helping you through it as much as I can. I don’t care if it’s some small little headache, or if you get stampeded by a rhino again – which I know almost happened, Clawhauser took a dig through your file while he was down in records after our first big case – and I certainly don’t care if it’s something like this. _Nothing_ is going to stop me from being there for you if you need me. _Especially_ if you need me.” She saw the look in his eye and softened her voice. “I am never going to leave you, and I will never abandon you. You’re my mate, and nothing is going to change that.”

 

His eyes widened until it felt like Judy was staring into a pair of tourmaline rings. He tightened his hold on her again, tenderly pulling her in against his torso. “Thank you… Th-tha-ank y-you.” His words were punctuated by silent sobs.

 

“Dumb fox,” she crooned quietly. “What else did you think I was gonna do?” He laughed softly through the tears and curled tighter around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me, Dear Reader, for I have sinned.


	11. Chapter 10.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the TAME(R) VERSION.
> 
> ***You do not need to read Part 1 to understand Part 2. Same story, different rating. If you don't want to read the explicit chapter, you can skip to Part 2.***

Nick’s back was ramrod straight as he burst up from under the blankets with a yell, his fur dripping with sweat, eyes wide, panting. The nightmare… God, it had felt so _real!_

 

A soft murmur from beside him immediately had him cringing away from the small silver shape beside him. He knew that if there were any light in the room, he would see her fur covered in blood, evident bite marks covering her flesh…

 

He shuddered at the image, but shook himself and forced his mind clear of any thoughts. It was just a dream. _It was just a dream!_ Nick carefully ran his paws over her fur just to make sure that he was right. Soft, soft, soft, _ruffled_ but no marks…

 

He got down to the cast without feeling any blood, and let out his breath in a deep sigh of relief. It had been just a dream, after all.

 

He didn’t want to think about what he saw, didn’t want to think about that night so long ago, didn’t want to think about what had almost happened to his partner, his… He shook himself again.

 

Nick scooped up his phone from where he had it charging in a wall outlet under the table and sat down on the edge of the bed, going straight to his picture galleries and into the folder labelled ‘Mama’.

 

He heard Judy shifting in bed where he’d left her. “Nick?” she asked groggily.

 

“Hey Fluff.” He didn’t look at her.

 

“What are you doing? Do you even know what time it is?”

 

“It’s 3:30 in the morning, and I’m looking at pictures on my phone.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Couldn't sleep.”

 

“That’s the last thing you usually have a problem with.” He could hear the scepticism in her voice. It practically dripped with it.

 

“Not tonight.”

 

“Nick, what’s wrong? Something must be bothering you if you decided to get up and _do_ something instead of just laying in bed.”

 

“Don’t worry about it, Judy. It’s nothing." He still didn’t look at her.

 

He continued scrolling. She was silent for a moment, then she started to move towards him. She pressed herself against his ribs, which were still sore. He knew she hadn’t meant to hurt him, but he couldn’t stop the wince that accompanied the action. He reached a paw down to rub at the spot almost absentmindedly, never taking his eyes off his phone.

 

“Nick…”

 

“Go back to sleep. You need your rest.”

 

“And you don’t?

“I’ll be fine.”

 

She ducked under his arm and pressed herself into his lap, one paw on his shoulder and the other one pushing away the phone that he was still scrolling through. He felt her head rub up against the soft fur of his throat and press into his jawbone. “Please, Nick. Don’t push me away. I want to help you. What is it that’s bothering you?”

 

He couldn’t control himself anymore and started trembling. “Judy… Please, just…” She wrapped her arms around his neck. It didn’t stop the trembling. Hell, if anything it made it worse.

 

Her head peeked downwards, and he knew she was looking at the pictures that were still on the screen of his phone. All those pictures of his mother. He wouldn’t be surprised if she recognized the vixen; his mother had always been striking, and he had a picture of his mom in his bedroom. It had been her favourite picture of them from when he was young, before his dad had been taken away. They’d gone to get ice cream and his dad had pulled out his camera as Nick and his mom sat on the bench, licking at the drips that were running down the side of their cones.

 

“You had a nightmare about your mom, didn’t you?” He stopped trying to control sobs and pressed himself closer to her. A single teardrop rolled down from his eyes and landed on her head. “Nick, whatever it was, it was just your mind reacting to the shock of the news from earlier. It wasn’t real—“

 

“ _It was real!_ ” The words came out in a rasping growl from deep in his throat. She jumped, startled, and he was suddenly overtaken with the fear that she would get off him, that she would walk away, that she would be attacked again and ripped apart and—

 

He wrapped his arms tight around her torso, pulling her against him with all his strength. It hurt his chest, to have her pressed against his chest the way she was, but he couldn’t care less. The pain helped ground him. The feel of her fur on his helped remind him this was real. Helped remind him that _she_ was real, that she was there and that she wasn’t going anywhere. He gave great, jagged heaves of breath as he tried to control the sobbing one more time.

 

She reached up her good paw and started stroking him, fingers trailing from between his ears, down to the base of his neck. Always flowing with the fur, then removing themselves and repeating when she got to the end.

 

Just the way his mother used to.

 

He broke down completely, sending horrible, painful sobs wracking through his body, the echoes bouncing off the bookcases that made up the walls.

**

It was a while before he was able to be coherent again.

 

“When…” He had to fight for breath as the pain threatened to send him back into sobs again. Her paw went right back to where it had been just a moment before, trailing through the fur of his tail, which was wrapped around her torso with most of the length sitting in her lap. He found it oddly comforting.

 

“When… when I was going to my first meeting of the Junior Ranger Scouts, I was muzzled, right? A-and they beat me a little bit. Or… maybe more than a little bit. My mom was furious that they’d done that to me, and she was ready to go give them a piece of her mind, and I stopped her, which is good because that night… a bunch of predators attacked some police officers, and the SWAT team was on a manhunt, and they didn’t care about who they brought in. If she’d gone out there that night…” Nick swallowed and had to take a few deep breaths.

 

After several minutes, and Judy continuing to stroke his tail and offer soft encouragements in her most soothing voice, he was able to continue.

 

“That… that was in the dream. The scouts beating me, while my mother watched on in horror and… and grief… and… and…” More deep breaths. More minutes passing before he could speak again.

 

“They… they found her under a br-bridge. When I was seventeen. Tried to s-s-save her life, but…” He swallowed and felt the tears well up in his eyes again.

 

“I w-was… chased by police down into the investiture. In the dream. They had tried to beat me before, that’s why… that’s why I was scared of them. Then, after they… after the scouts were done muzzling me and beating me, the police came in a-and shot m-my…”

 

“It’s okay, take your time,” Judy murmured to him, her fingers still running through his fur, still pressing herself to his side. _Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths…_

“After that, you were dragged in by some jackals and you were staring in horror. And then the jackals… they started…”

 

He didn’t need to finish after that. She knew exactly what he was talking about. He’d had that part of the dream before, since he found out what had happened to land her in the hospital herself.

 

She pressed herself deeper into his side and wrapped her arms around him. He let out another sob and grabbed her as well, pulling her tight to his body.

**

They were lying in bed. Judy was curled up in his arms with her back pressed against his chest. That was the most comfortable position for them, without breaking contact. They both wanted to be as close to each other as they could. Judy had his tail pressed up against her front, part of her revelling in the soft fur, part of her enjoying the warmth from both sides, and the rest of her still slightly freaking out about Nick’s nightmare.

 

But as much as it scared her, it also made her more determined than ever to do everything she could to help protect her fox.

 

“Judy…” She strolled her fingers through his tail-fur to let him know that she was still awake and listening. “I’m sor—I'm sorry that you had to go through that with me. I’m sorry that I woke you and I’m sorry that I scared you with my stupid nightmares and I’m sorry—“

 

She twisted in his grip and grabbed him tight to her, burying her face in the lush fur on his neck. “Stop it, Nick,” she said, her voice muffled. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

 

“I do, Judy, and I am sorry for—“

 

“No,” she said, pulling her face out of his fur and looking up at him. “Don’t apologize to me, Nick! I’m your partner! Anything you’re going through, I’ll be right there with you, helping you through it as much as I can. I don’t care if it’s some small little headache, or if you get stampeded by a rhino again – which I know almost happened, Clawhauser took a dig through your file while he was down in records after our first big case – and I certainly don’t care if it’s something like this. _Nothing_ is going to stop me from being there for you if you need me. _Especially_ if you need me.” She saw the look in his eye and softened her voice. “I am never going to leave you, and I will never abandon you. You’re my mate, and nothing is going to change that.”

 

His eyes widened until it felt like Judy was staring into a pair of tourmaline rings. He tightened his hold on her again, tenderly pulling her in against his torso. “Thank you… Th-tha-ank y-you.” His words were punctuated by silent sobs.

 

“Dumb fox,” she crooned quietly. “What else did you think I was gonna do?” He laughed softly through the tears and curled tighter around her.


	12. Chapter 11

Judy pushed into the kitchen the next morning, exhausted but pleased that she had been able to help Nick the previous night. Of course, after they’d gotten through the nightmare and her comforting him, she hadn’t been able to sleep a wink. Not that it mattered much; it was already 5AM by that point so she was able to just wait an hour and head to the kitchen for breakfast.

 

Both her parents were already there, her father looking slightly disgruntled about something. She wondered if he had found someone rooting through their carrot fields again. It happened from time to time.

 

Al and Vince walked in a few steps behind her, both of them rubbing sleep out of their eyes. They must have stayed the night. She hadn’t seen either of them since that first day back at the farm, though Nick had told her about his encounter with Al the day they’d gone to the pub.

 

The three of them sat down, along with the six siblings in the eighteenth litter, headed by Annie, who was already helping their mother serve breakfast to the 9 of them before getting their own. Breakfast was a fruit salad with granola and toast with jelly. For a number of minutes, no one said anything, everyone intent on eating and filling their stomachs.

 

Finally, Stu sat back with a sigh, obviously contented. “Thanks, Bon,” he said, placing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. “I enjoyed that. Now all I need is a cup’a’Joe, and I’ll be all set for the day.” A chorus of thank-yous echoed around the table.

 

“You’re all welcome,” Bonnie said with a smile. “It’s nice to have so many people at breakfast; I hadn’t thought we’d have almost two full litters join us this morning!”

 

“Yeah, why are so many of you here?” Nate, the second oldest in Annie’s litter, asked. “Like, we get that Judy’s living here again, but why are you two here so early?”

 

“We stayed late helping Pa with the elevator,” Vince said, shrugging. “We figured, since we were all already workin’ on it, we may as well finish. Then it just made more sense to stay here the night.”

 

“Though that does bring to mind, Jude,” Al commented, “what _are_ you doin’ up so early? I know ya normally stay sleepin’ in with your mate till well past the rest of us are up’n’atem.” Judy noticed Vince stiffen on Al’s other side, but chose to ignore it.

 

“I couldn’t sleep, and my stomach started growling so I figured rather than have it wake Nick, I’d just come get some breakfast then go back and join him later.”

 

“Oh, you couldn’t sleep, could you?” Stu groused, his grumpy expression back in place.

 

Bonnie shot her husband a look. “Stu, dear, we talked about this.” He groused some more under his breath, but gave over to his wife. “Judy, as you can see, your father is a little upset,” she started. “Like I told you before, you might be a city rabbit now, and things are probably very different there, but you’re back here now and you need to respect our rules for the way things work in our warrens.”

 

“Yeah, I know that,” Judy replied, puzzled. “Is there a time when we haven’t, besides what happened on the first night?”

 

“Well…”

 

“Was the reason you couldn’t sleep because you were rutting with that fox of yours?” Annie and Nate nearly choked on their fruit at their father’s words, and had to pound each other on the back a few times.

 

Vince stood up and slammed his fist on the table. “You did _WHAT_?” Al put a paw on his brother’s arm but Vince shook him off. “I am going to kill that goddamn fox,” he swore, moving to storm out of the kitchen. Al grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around.

 

“Let’s here Judy’s side of the story,” he said, staring his brother straight in the eye. Vince looked like he was going to tear into him, but finally sat down and glared at Judy. “Talk.”

 

“First of all, _once again_ , my love life is none of your business, Vince. I can and will do whatever I want, with _whoever_ I want, and if you get in the way of that we _will_ scrap it out again like when we were kids. Got it? Secondly, Dad, I was _not_ rutting with Nick! He and I have barely made it past _kissing_ each other yet. Besides, do you really think I’d do something like that when I know that you and Mom are just down the hallway, in the next room over?”

 

“Then what were those noises that I heard coming from your room on my way to the washroom this mornin’?” Stu questioned, glaring at his daughter. Vince half-stood again before Al pulled him back into his seat. Five of the litter across the table started speaking in hushed tones. Annie wasn’t involved in the conversations but from the way her ears were rotating, she wasn’t missing anything that was said, including between Judy and their father.

 

“Nick had a nightmare last night,” Judy said after a moment of hesitation. “He freaked out and I was helping him calm down. It… it was a powerful one, and it caused him a lot of pain, and he ended up crying and sobbing a lot during the process. That’s also the reason that I couldn’t get back to sleep. Not that there was much point because we finally got through it only an hour ago.”

 

“And what was that nightmare about?” Vince demanded. “About ripping you to shreds? About loosing control and killing you?”

 

Judy shook her head. “It was the opposite… he was afraid he _wouldn’t_ be able to protect me. Or any other people he cares about.” She couldn’t look at them for a minute, but when she did look up, she noticed that both Al and Vince looked uncomfortable and not nearly as angry as they had a few minutes prior. Her mother looked concerned, but gave her a reassuring smile nonetheless.

 

Her father, however, was the most contrite, his face drooping until he couldn’t meet her eye. “I’m sorry, Jude,” he sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t jump to conclusions about you an’ that fox. You and Nick,” he corrected himself after a moment. “An’ if that’s a big enough fear for him to have nightmares about, then I guess he’s an okay guy.”

 

“I don’t know why he’s worried,” Annie commented, all her siblings going quiet at her words. “I mean, if anyone can defend themselves, then it’s you. You’re a police officer; you’re able to take down mammals three times your size; and you’re fast, so there aren’t that many animals that would be able to catch you. If anything, he should be worried about any of the critters that come after you!”

 

“Thanks, Annie,” Judy smiled at her sister, who returned the grin. “He worries just because, even though he knows he has nothing to worry about. It’s kinda like his way of saying to not get in over my head. I mean I don’t,” she added quickly, “but it’s the thought that counts.”

 

Al and Vince exchanged glances, then snorted and had to look away to keep themselves from laughing. Her other siblings didn’t even bother being discreet, openly laughing as hard as they could. Even her parents seemed amused.

 

“What’s so funny?” she asked indignantly.

 

“Jude the dude,” her father said, “You _redefine_ the phrase ‘in over my head’.”

 

“No, no, Daddy,” Annie broke in, somehow smothering her laughter just enough to get in a comment. “She doesn’t get in over her head; as a bunny, she just gets _under_ everyone else’s at the precinct!” That had everyone in hoots of laughter.

 

“Har har,” Judy grumbled. “Laugh all you want. But my height isn’t _that_ funny.” Her words were just met with more laughter and teasing.

**

Nick was slowly coming to when he noticed Judy coming back in, smelling of fruit and soap and flowery shampoo. He hadn’t realized that she had gone anywhere, but now he was glad that she was coming back.

 

Once he’d managed to doze off, curled tight around her and with her pressing back against him, he’d had a dreamless sleep. Hell, he’d had the best sleep that he’d ever had. He knew there were some scientists that claimed there was a link between emotional release and good rest. After his night, he’d be a believer.

 

He raised his head and stared at her groggily, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. There was something different about her, he could tell that right away, but it took him a few minutes as she hobbled over to their bed with a box in her arms that he realized what it was.

 

“You got your cast taken off!” He swore the smile that burst across her face as he said those words would rip it in two.

 

“Yeah! Isn’t it great?” She moved her paw and swung her arm around a little bit. “The doctor came back this morning and said that she felt it was time to take the cast off. So, she cut it off right there at the dining room table!”

 

“Oh, so _that’s_ where you went,” he teased her. “I was wondering where you’d disappeared to this morning.”

 

A look of guilt shot across her face. “Sorry. I was really hungry and I didn’t want to wake you… I thought I’d be back before you woke up, since you barely got any sleep last night. I guess the surprise visit with Dr. Loup set my schedule back, though.”

 

Nick’s ears pinned back. “Dr. Loup is here? Like, Dr. Lara Loup?”

 

“Yeah.” She frowned. “Is something wrong?”

 

Nick shook his head after a moment. “I… her time is expensive. I wasn’t expecting her to show up. I guess if Mr. Big is covering your medical expenses, though, then he’d only send the best.”

 

Judy placed a paw on his shoulder. “She’s also here to check up on you, you know.”

 

“What?! Judy, I can’t afford her time!”

 

“Mr. Big is paying your medical bills, too.” He looked at her in surprise, his ears relaxing slightly though still staying close to his scalp. “As far as he’s concerned, you’re part of the family now, too.”

 

“I didn’t think it extended that far, though.”

 

“Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that we’re dating. Fru Fru was all excited about it when I told her. She even sent you a little something in the care package she sent.” Judy gestured towards the table beside the door, where a small cardboard box was sitting with the lid not closed on it properly.

 

Nick got up and walked over to the box, picking it up and carrying it back to the bed with him. Judy pulled off the cover with her newly uncovered paw and dug around inside for a few minutes. Finally, she pulled out a bottle of blueberry wine and handed it to him. He took one look at the label and his eyes widened.

 

“This… this is really good stuff! I haven’t had a bottle of this in years, not since before Grandmamma Big passed away… He must really like me, if he’s pulling a bottle out of her private stock.”

 

“That or Fru Fru wants to make you feel welcome again since she’s downright positive that at some point we’re going to be married and she wants to be invited to the wedding.”

 

“Um… wouldn’t it be dangerous _not_ to invite her to the wedding?”

 

Judy rolled her eyes. “I doubt she’d ever condone assassinating my groom just because she wasn’t invited to a wedding. If anything, she’d be more hurt that _I_ didn’t invite her, no matter what you said.”

 

“True.” Nick gazed back down at the bottle of wine in his paws. Then a stack of pictures in the bottom of the box caught his eye. “Are those of Baby Judy?”

 

“Yeah,” she replied, beaming proudly. “Apparently Fru Fru wants me to show them to my parents, and she wants me to report back to her with their reactions. She was originally going to get Dr. Loup to do it, but the good doctor refused, saying that she was already doing enough to come out here and check on the both of us. Speaking of which, she’s still waiting upstairs in the farmhouse kitchen.”

 

“Wait, what? Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”

 

“Well why did you think I was telling you that she was here to check up on you too, ya dumb fox?” Nick hurriedly jumped into his pants and grabbed his shirt from the previous day. “Not that one, do you want her to smell your barf from yesterday? She’d probably have you sent straight to Tri-Burrow Medical for a full physical exam!”

 

“Then what do you suggest I wear?”

 

“Well you did leave a shirt hanging from one of the tables so you’d remember to bring it with you when you went for your shower…”

 

“Clever bunny.” He grabbed the shirt and buttoned it up quickly, misbuttoning it by two in the process and having to start all over. “Cologne or no?”

 

“What, are you trying to impress her or something? She’s like, twice your age!”

 

“Three times, actually. And she has a _wicked_ sharp sense of smell, so the last thing I want is for her to smell my sweat and mistake it for something and _misdiagnose me_ —“

 

“Oh relax,” Judy sighed. “Her nose may be sharp but your musk should cover up your B.O. It certainly did for me.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“While she was sawing my cast off, she wouldn’t stop talking about safety precautions I should take while r-rutting with you.” Nick stared at her, dumbfounded. Her ears were pressed flat back against her head, but even then he could see the blush creeping through them, and even darkening the silver fur on her face. For some reason she couldn’t meet his eye. “She said that normally she could discern a patient’s condition based in part on their smell, but that I smelled so much like you and sweat that she figured it would be better to talk to me about how it would work between our bodies and… Let’s just say that I was _not_ expecting to ever have a conversation about how to mate a fox with a wolf who’s older than my grandmother while she’s wielding a hacksaw.” She took a deep breath. “At least she had the courtesy to ask my parents to wait downstairs before she started talking about it.”

 

Nick was speechless, and for a moment, his entire body went limp from shock. Then he growled. “I’m going to kill her.”

**

“Hello, Nick,” Dr. Loup said as soon as he walked in. Stu and Bonnie Hopps excused themselves, and Nick heard the door leading to the burrows slam. That elevator apparently still wasn’t fixed, despite what Stu had told him.

 

“What are you doing, talking to my mate about _rutting_?”

 

Dr. Loup blinked at him in surprise for a moment, then looked down and gave a growling laugh. “You’ve lost your tact, Nicky. Normally you’d make some kind of witty remark first.”

 

“I’m serious, doctor. You have _no right_ to do that after what happened last time.”

 

“You’re not really still mad about what happened with Honey, are you? Lovely girl; her father and I go way back, you know. How is she, by the way? I’m assuming that you and her are on amiable terms, considering that you’re both back in Bunnyburrow and you’ve got a new mate.”

 

“I wouldn’t know; I haven’t spoken to Honey in 12 years.”

 

“12 years? That’s a long time, Nick; you should go say hello. Especially since you’re the father of her child.”

 

Nick growled harshly at the wolf sitting across from him. “I’m not the father.”

 

“What, Honey didn’t tell you? Your last fling got her pregnant with child.”

 

“Apparently Honey didn’t tell _you_. We did a paternity test just after she gave birth. That kit wasn’t mine.”

 

The old wolf looked at him for a moment, then sighed. “Well I guess that explains why she never came back to see me. Or you, for that matter.”

 

“Do you actually think I could have paid your invoices? Around that time, I could barely afford a flea shot!”

 

“Ah, yes, I forgot about the skunk-butt rug incident. Casmiro was pretty peeved about that. But you know I would’ve probably treated you for free at that point, if only because I’d been doing it for so long.”

 

“There was also that little fact that _you’re the reason that my friendship with Honey crumbled!_ ”

 

“Now that’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”

 

“ _You’re_ the one who told her all about rutting with foxes, and _you’re_ the one who convinced her that she could get pregnant by me and so I was a viable mate. So no, I don’t think it’s harsh to say that you were the catalyst for the end of my friendship with her.”

 

The she-wolf held up her paws. “Fine, fine. I’m not going to debate this with you further, though you should know that you’ll be showing up in my next few therapy sessions, probably. But back to our original topic, I was informing Miss Hopps about vulpine mating so that should it come down to it, she won’t get hurt while trying to do the do with you.”

 

He pulled a face, calming down somewhat. “Did you actually just say that, Granny?”

 

It was Dr. Loup’s turn to growl. “I may be old, but I am still a doctor and you are still my patient, Mr. Wilde. I would appreciate a little more respect.”

 

Nick gave her his trademark indifferent smirk, then leaned his head back – exposing his throat – and stretched his arms behind him. “Thank you for looking out for Judy, Doc,” he said after a moment, catching the doctor by surprise. “I do appreciate it, even though I had to vent a little anger first to be able to admit it.” He pulled out of the stretch with his expression unchanged, but from the set of his shoulders, she could tell that he meant it.

 

“Very well, Mr. Wilde. If past experience is anything to judge by, I’ll take that as an apology and we can carry on. Shirt off, let’s take a look at your chest.” When he hesitated, she continued. “Nick, I am, first and foremost, a doctor. If I’m here to assess a patient and help them with their recovery, then I will. I’ve been alive too long to let a little thing like this ruin my reputation as a professional. All I ask for is a little trust that I’ll do the right thing.”

 

Nick hesitated a moment longer, then slowly unbuttoned his shirt.


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your patience! I had the chapters written but my computer had to go in for repairs... XP Here is the new chapter! I'll continue trying to put out a chapter a day!

In the end, Nick did end up taking Dr. Loup’s advice.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Judy asked from beside him, placing her paw on his arm. “I don’t mind; Miss Honey has always been really nice to my family since she moved here.”

 

Nick hesitated, but shook his head no. “Honey’s always been a little more emotional than your average badger. And while she might have been nice to you guys before, the last thing I want is for her to go into a rage against you.”

 

“She wouldn’t do that.” Pause. “Would she?”

 

“I don’t think so,” he admitted after a moment. “But—“

 

“No more excuses, Nick. You don’t have to explain yourself to me, but I do want you to be able to just tell me the truth without worrying about the way I’ll react.”

 

Nick looked up at her and realized that she was right. He had to stop making excuses to her; she was his partner at the ZPD and his girlfriend. If he couldn’t trust her, then he couldn’t trust anyone.

 

More importantly, he knew he could trust her.

 

He took a deep breath and tried again. “I just need to face this by myself,” he told her. “I’m a big boy and saying hello to her is the mature thing to do.”

 

Judy squeezed his arm. “Alright. I’m going to get the cab to bring me home. If you need anything, just give me a call. Or call a taxi. Or both.”

 

“I know, Carrots, I know.” He leaned over and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine.”

 

She smiled up at him and leaned up to give him a peck on his cheek. “Good luck.” He watched her shamble back down the drive to the waiting taxi, making sure she got in before climbing the steps and ringing the doorbell.

 

After a few moments, he heard the scampering of feet and the door opened a crack. “Can I help you?” A large amber eye peeked out from the crack. The voice was small and higher in pitch that Nick was expecting. Probably a boy, just before he hit puberty.

 

“Hi there,” Nick said, his typical sly smirk in place on his face. “I’m looking for a Madge Honey. Is she here?”

 

The amber eye regarded him coldly for a moment, then called over his shoulder. “Mo-om! There’s a fox here to see you!”

 

From inside the house came muffled cursing and more than a little banging and clanging. Nick presumed that they were from pots and pans, but when the door flew open and the badger was revealed, Nick was more than a little surprised to see that she had a pump action shotgun pointed right at his chest. There was a cold, dead look in her amber eyes.

 

“I swear, if you came for my – Nick?”

 

He managed a weak smile, slowly edging back from the barrel of the shotgun. “H-hey, Honey. Long time, no see.”

**

They sat quietly. Honey and her son sat on the couch, Nick in an armchair facing them. The boy was a curious grey-colour with a few white stripes streaking vertically along his fur, very reminiscent of his mother and yet very clearly vulpine. Include the amber eyes and he made a strangely striking figure.

 

Honey was another matter. Since Nick had last seen her, she’d put on a few pounds, and had grown a few inches too. He doubted that had anything to do with her white mohawk strangely reminiscent of Ricky’s.

 

“So Ricky’s in jail, you joined up with the police, and you’re rutting a rabbit. And here I thought I’d known the real you, Nick.” He had to stop himself from flinching at the quiet anger in her voice. It made his tail poof out.

 

“Again, I’m _dating_ , not rutting, her.”

 

“Funny how you said the same thing to me when we were together.”

 

“I told you that we were rutting, not dating. And should we really be discussing this in front of the kit?”

 

“I don’t keep any secrets from my son. Now if only his father could say the same.”

 

“We both know he’s not mine.”

 

“I wasn’t talking about you, Wilde,” she snapped at him. “I’ve learned who his _actual_ father is since we found out for sure that you weren’t.” Nick waited, staring at her with a completely neutral expression. Normally he would have his sly fox mask plastered all over his face, but Honey was still fondling the shotgun a little to lovingly.

 

Realizing that she wasn’t going to elaborate on that, he decided to change the subject. “So why are you answering the door with a shotgun in hand? You always told me that that was the behaviour that got the psychos caught in the films, when they started showing up to the door with guns in hand.”

 

“You’re a fox. I made the assumption that you were from the Vulpine Syndicate and acted accordingly.”

 

“You… you thought I was from the Vulpine Syndicate?” One of the largest criminal organizations in Animalia, the Vulpine Syndicate was run primarily by foxes who had decided that they didn’t like the rules that society had made for fox-kind and so decided to re-write them. While they didn’t have much of a presence in Zootopia thanks to the Big and Blackfur syndicates, they controlled large swaths of territory in the smaller cities scattered around the country. “What the hell did you do to get on their bad side?”

 

Honey looked uncomfortable for a moment. “I… I slept with the boss’s grandson.” Nick froze, staring at her. His eyes slowly tracked over to her son, who was still staring at him with that unnerving amber glare.

 

“ _Oh._ ”

 

Honey nodded. “Mr. di Vulpis didn’t appreciate the fact that I… used his grandson as a way to get over you. He also didn’t like the fact that I’d gone back asking for child support once we realized that you weren’t the father.”

 

“Now what could have possessed you to do that?” Nick asked sarcastically. “There are neater ways of committing suicide, ya know.”

 

“I didn't know who he was at the time! If I’d known, I would have disappeared straight away and never looked back.”

 

“So that’s why you’re here, then? _That’s_ why you moved out to Bunnyburrow?”

 

She shook her head. “I moved out to Bunnyburrow because I wanted to get away from the city a little bit, since your influence was everywhere. Then after that fling that we had, I decided that I needed to get away from here for a little while, so I went to live with my sister in the Greendens. That’s… well, you know that that’s where the di Vulpis’ hold court.”

 

Nick nodded. He knew it all too well, as he’d gone with Mr. Big once on a business trip to the Greendens and had almost been assassinated. If it hadn’t been for Raymond pushing him out of the way of the bullet, he’d be dead. He shuddered at the memory.

 

“And of course, once Marlon was born, I knew I couldn’t stay in the Greendens, so I secretly moved us back here, and here we’ve been ever since. Enough of that, though,” Honey sighed. “What’s done is done, and as long as you don’t tell them where I am – which I doubt you will, seeing as you’re a cop now – we should just leave it be. Now, we’ve established what we’re both doing in Bunnyburrow, but what are you doing _here_ specifically?”

 

“Dr. Loup suggested that I should come visit you and patch things up. She said that it never hurts to have allies, especially with these new regulations with the collars that are being put into place.”

 

“You’re still going to see that old _bitch_ , even after what happened?”

 

“Not by choice. I hadn’t seen her since before you gave birth, until she showed up at my girlfriend’s house to check up on her injuries. Judy said that Mr. Big had sent her to check the both of us, after what happened during the rumbling.”

 

“First of all, _you were part of the rumbling?_ I can’t believe you! After everything that’s happened for predators, _you’ve been part of the problem?!_ And so what if Ricky’s your cousin? And so what if—“

 

“I was forced into participating in the rumbling while working undercover with the ZPD and the ABI. Ricky drugged me with some kind of hyper-concentrated form of the new drug Scorpion. And before you say anything, I had my paws tied with the ABI as well; if I didn’t work with them, I’d likely have lost my job, which was the second best thing that had ever happened to me.”

 

“Fine,” Honey fumed. “But if I catch wind that you’re _lying about this_ , Wilde, I will personally hunt you down and make sure that I’ll match what the _Bigs_ would do to you. Secondly, _when the hell did you get back into Mr. Big’s good books enough that he’d send you his personal family doctor, all the way out here?!”_

 

“It was mainly for my girlfriend; she’s his granddaughter’s godmother. I guess he just figured that if she was going to be down here, the doctor might as well check up on me, too.”

 

“And why isn’t he sending hitmen after you?”

 

“Again, my girlfriend is his granddaughter’s godmother, and she made sure that Mr. Big forgave me for everything I’d done to wrong him in the past.”

 

“Well lucky you. I guess that Officer Hopps is a good match for you, then; you both love to toe the line to the extreme, and have both found a home in law enforcement while breaking it every few days yourselves.”

 

“Officer Judy Hopps?” Marlon piped up from beside his mother, finally tearing his gaze away from Nick. “Isn’t she the one that exposed proof that the sheep conspiracy is real?”

 

“Yes, dear, but hush; I’d rather not get into that with him.”

 

“You still believe in that old sheep conspiracy that you dredged up?” Nick asked, incredulous. He knew that under the house was a surprisingly impressive bunker that – or so she claimed – was capable of withstanding a nuclear blast. Nick wasn’t so sure about that, but the amount of concrete and lead that she’d used to build it would probably be very effective at staving off the blast, if it came down to it.

 

“You hush, Wilde. Hopps proved that there _is_ a sheep conspiracy actually happening, and that it’s not just some theory.”

 

Nick put up his paws in a placating gesture, his easy grin sliding back into place. Just then, his phone started buzzing in his pocket. Nick pulled it out briefly, checking to see what it was, only to see Chief Bogo’s (Office) on the display as it rang again his paw.

 

“Aw, shit.”

**

Judy was practically bouncing in her seat as Gideon drove them toward the town centre. He’d been over to pick up some supplies from the Hopps family farm when she’d received the call from Nick. Without a second thought, she’d told Gideon what was happening and they’d saddled up.

 

Gideon’s father was mumbling and grumbling in the back as he nursed the beer in his hand. It was his first one of the day, the bloody alcoholic that he was, and even that might prevent him from getting collared until he sobered up. Gideon’s sister was refusing to speak to either of them, preferring to play the part of the stuck-up vixen than admit that she was scared. Gideon had secretly confided to Judy on their way back to his dad’s house that he was glad that his mom had died a few years prior, so that she didn’t have to go through the emotional trauma that the rest of them were likely to experience.

 

Judy only knew of a dozen predator families living in the Tri-Burrows, but when Gideon’s van pulled up, she counted at least twice that many clustered around the ZPD transport truck outside the hospital.

 

While Gideon was helping his family out of his van, Judy was looking around at the various mammals that were there, trying to spot a flash of orange that would indicate Nick’s location. He spotted them before she spotted him, however, and he made his way over to her with a badger and a strange-looking fox kit in tow. The kit looked to be almost a teenager.

 

“Well, funny meeting you here, fluff,” he murmured in her ear, causing her to spin around, whipping him in the snout with her ears in the process. “Nick!” Her pep turned into guilt as she realized what had happened. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

 

“Have you ever studied the rabbit martial art of Dokan Chi, by any chance?” he grumbled in reply, though he was smiling behind his paw as he said it. “Because I swear, you’d have the _perfect_ ears for it.”

 

“My parents tried to get me into it once or twice,” she replied with an embarrassed shrug. “Of course, by that point I was a senior in high school and they realized that I was going to MFU, which is way out of town, and I’d be living on my own… Well, let’s just say that I didn’t bother because I didn’t have time between work, school and volunteering.”

 

Nick just grinned at her in reply and patted her head.

 

Judy glanced over his shoulder. “Is that…?” Nick followed her gaze and she noticed his smile dropped a little. Judy looked past him at the badger and found herself caught off guard by the intensity of the other mammal’s eyes. A bright yellow, like a cheetah’s hide but more crystalline.

 

“Judy, this is my friend Ho- Madge Honey. Madge, this is my girlfriend Judy.”

 

“Pleasure to meet you, Officer Hopps,” the badger said without any inflection.

 

“I… uh, you too. And please, just call me Judy. And who’s this?” She smiled down at the young silver fox with badger stripes. He just stared back at her with intense amber eyes, very much like Honey’s.

 

“This is my son, Marlon,” she replied, placing her paw protectively on his shoulder. “And we really should be going; I don’t want this to take any longer than it has to; if we’re caught without the collars, they’ll be less than sympathetic.” The two of them walked off, leaving Judy bewildered.

 

“What’s their problem?”

 

“Let’s just say that they’re not exactly thrilled to see me again, especially after what happened in the city.”

 

“Oh. And what did she mean, ‘they’ll be less than sympathetic’? I doubt they’d be any less sympathetic to the plight of mammals like them than they would for any other predator.”

 

Nick sighed and leaned in closer to Judy, placing his head between her ears. “Marlon is a hybrid cub,” he told her quietly. “It’s rare that they survive infancy, and when they do a lot of people shun them. Honey’s worried that any ZPD officers who find them after the end of the month without collars will be harsher on them because of what Marlon is.”

 

Judy opened her mouth to argue with him, then realized that this situation was no different than their own relationship, and the myriad of disgusted looks and comments that they’d received, even in Zootopia, even when they had just been friends spending time together outside of work. She was forced to close her jaw, but her good foot started tapping out a tattoo on the pavement. “That is so… it’s just completely… ugh! I hate injustice!”

 

“Me too, Judy,” Nick sighed. “Me too.”


	14. Chapter 13

“So you’ve gone through this too, huh?”

 

Delgato grimaced. “Yeah. Not the most pleasant operation. Still, it doesn’t leave a huge scar.”

 

“Too bad.” Judy could hear Nick’s smirk from behind the curtain. “I figured a scar like that would’ve gone over well for scaring the new recruits.”

  
“Most of them will know what it’s from,” McHorn commented with a deep, rumbling laugh from where he was standing at the door. “Two thirds of the rookies we get are predators, and after this month, every one of ‘em will have gone through the same thing. You won’t impress anyone. Hell, might just give ‘em a good laugh on their first day.”

 

“Every single one has the incision in the same place,” Delgato explained to Judy. “The chip needs to be inserted into the jugular artery on the neck in order to monitor the hormones.”

 

“I figured as much,” Judy replied from her perch on the edge of Nick’s bed. She’d hopped up there as he was changing into the mandatory hospital scrubs. “And those colours suit you, slick.”

 

“Very funny, Carrots,” he groused, stepping out from behind the curtain. “You’re about the only mammal that I’ve ever seen who could be flattered by hospital scrubs.”

 

McHorn snickered. “Are you sure that Bogo won that pool? It sounds like these two have been together far longer than the month and a half that he said they have.”

 

“Nah, Clawhauser confirmed it too. Judy went and told him the day after they started rutting.”

 

“You two know we can hear you, right?”

 

“And we are not rutting together!” McHorn snickered again at Judy’s indignant and obviously embarrassed outcry.

 

“Whatever you two are doing,” Delgato interrupted, clearly not interested in antagonizing the bunny after their last bout in the boxing ring, where Judy had put him on the ground two rounds in a row. “You just need to keep it away from the precinct. Bogo’s words, not mine,” he added hastily seeing Judy’s glare. “He may have won the pool but he doesn’t want to see the evidence first hand.”

 

“And those _are_ your words, Ed,” Mchorn said to the tiger.

 

“How long is the surgery?” Nick asked.

 

“Mine took two hours. Woke up just as they were attaching the collar.”

 

“Yours will probably take only an hour, Mr. Wilde,” the doctor said, stepping in. The old porcupine looked over his charts and back up at the fox. “A fox is a lot smaller than a tiger, and judging by your physique you don’t have nearly as much muscle on you to dig through. At least not in the neck area.”

 

“Somehow I feel like that’s a compliment.”

 

“Please, Mr. Wilde,” the doctor snapped. “I understand that it is in your nature to use your wit to avoid situations which scare you, but I would ask you to refrain from it until we have you put under anaesthetic. I don’t have the time, nor the patience for it.”

 

Nick’s smile didn’t change as he moved across the room to hop up beside Judy on the rolling hospital bed, but she knew that the old porcupine’s comments had to hurt. Before she could say anything on his behalf, however, she felt his tail flick around to brush her arm. The fur was stiff and bristling.

 

“You know, doc,” Nick continued, unperturbed, “I would have thought that you’d be trying to make your patients feel a little more comfortable before they let you go rooting around in their necks. It seems like a better policy than making them question your morals.”

 

The quills on the porcupine’s back bristled. “How dare you question my morals, you belligerent fox! I should have these officers give you a nice healthy dose with their Tasers as an anaesthetic instead! It might help teach you some manners that you are _very clearly_ lacking!”

 

“Hey, Eddie,” Nick said, turning to Delgato. “I don’t suppose that there’s another doctor to do this procedure? I mean, I have nothing against porcupines but I’m not sure getting an acupuncture treatment is a very good idea for my ribs.”

 

McHorn could barely contain his snicker, playing it off as a sneeze. Delgato managed to control himself better, keeping his face neutral, though his tail was lashing from side to side with the effort. “Let-Let me see if Dr. Lightfoot is available to switch.” He pushed through the doors quickly, leaving just the four of them.

 

Dr. Quill seemed flabbergasted. “I… I never! You bloody ungrateful animal! I—“

 

“Dr. Quill,” Judy spoke up finally. The old porcupine turned to her and almost took a step back from the force of her glare. “You just insulted him several times; _invalidated him_ , which is the last thing a professional is supposed to do with their patient; and you just threatened to have him assaulted. And you really expect him to trust you? After this, _I_ don’t even trust you, and you’ve treated every rabbit in my family since my _parents_ were children!”

 

“You’re not even supposed to be here, my dear. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. And if you don’t, I’m sure that this fine officer here will be more than happy to remove you.”

 

“Officer McHorn, are you planning on removing me from the room?” Judy looked at the rhino in the corner, who shook his head briefly before returning his expression to the stoic one that he usually tried to present. “Good. And _you_ are not going to be performing surgery on my partner here.”

 

“ _Your partner?_ ”

 

“Yes, her partner on the force,” Delgato interjected, stepping back in. “Dr. Lightfoot is going to take over the surgery, by the way.”

 

“You mean to tell me that this… this… _fox_ is dating a rabbit?! Ridiculous!”

 

“Well actually, neither of us were talking about any kind of romantic relationship,” Nick said amicably, though Judy knew that his voice belied his feelings. “As Officer Delgato said, Officer Hopps and I are partners in the Zootopia Police Department. We both serve in Precinct One alongside the two uniformed officers in this room.”

 

Judy couldn’t help but feel satisfaction as she watched the old porcupines eyes widen until she could see the whites of his sclera. Animals like the old doctor were the main issues that both of them had faced to get to where they were now.

 

“Y-you-you’re both—“

 

“Dr. Quill, you really should have read your charts more closely.” All of them turned as a younger capybara stepped into the room. “If you look at your charts, you’ll see that Officer Wilde’s collar is one of the specialized ones that are issued to all of the ZPD officers. Now if you’ll just sign here, we can transfer this. Although if you’re still interested in getting your pay for the implant, you can take over my surgery at 4 today. I checked your schedule and know that you’re available at that time for the procedure.”

 

Dr. Quill looked at him speechless for a moment, before reaching out a shaking paw and grasping the pen that Dr. Lightfoot was holding and scrawling a quick signature on the page. Dr. Lightfoot took back his pen and handed both pen and form to Delgato, who put it aside on one of the counters. The porcupine stormed out of the room.

 

“Ignore him, officers. He’s a very traditional mammal, and he’s had some less than ideal experiences in his past. Just out of curiosity, though, are you two romantically involved?” He looked at the two seated on the hospital bed.

 

Nick’s tail brushed up against her wrist again. “Well now, doctor, that’s the question that’s on everyone’s lips, isn’t it? How much was in the jackpot for that pool, Eddie?”

 

“Probably about $600 total,” the tiger rumbled.

 

“So not quite the million-dollar question, but hey, what can you expect from a group of people betting with an officer’s salary?”

 

The capybara chuckled and walked over to them. He placed his paws on Nick’s shoulders and guided him down onto the bed until he was laying flat. Judy was practically right beside his head, and the bed was definitely a size or two too large for the fox that was lying down in it.

 

“Now, Officer Wilde. I’m sure your companions have already explained what we’ll be doing with the procedure. We’ll be using a dosage of anaesthesia appropriate to your size; if all goes well, you should be waking up with your collar already in place and synced in with the microchip that we will be implanting into your neck.”

 

“What do you mean, if everything goes well?” Judy asked, suddenly concerned. “I thought this procedure was completely safe.”

 

“It is, Officer Hopps. Depending on the size and physique of the mammal in question, the time frame for the procedure can vary, but in this case we shouldn’t have any reason to be concerned. Officer Wilde’s neck is not very heavily muscled, so it will be a simple procedure.”

 

Judy looked down at her partner, laying on the bed and looking up at _her_ with an empty smirk on his face, masking his fear. “Don’t worry about it, Carrots,” he said. “I’m sure the doctor knows what he’s doing.”

 

“Now Officer Wilde—“

 

“Call me Nick, doc; this formality is annoying.”

 

The capybara snorted but complied. “Nick. The anaesthesiologist will be here in just a moment to put you under, and then we’ll start the surgery. You’ll wake up with your new collar in place and you won’t have anything to worry about from then on unless the incision gets infected. We’ll provide you with antibiotics afterwards to help combat that. Any questions?”

 

“Do I get a bowl of ice cream after the surgery if I’m a good boy?”

 

“If you’d like, I’m sure your partner here will be more than willing to bring you to an ice cream parlour in town once you’ve been discharged. The Scoop is a nice place to go. I had the owner in here just yesterday; a weasel named Travis, about your age, Officer Hopps.

 

“Now, officers, it’s time that you left. You’re more than welcome to wait in the waiting room if you’ve nothing better to be doing. Someone will alert you once the surgery is done. Until then.” The doctor gave them each a cursory nod and walked back out the doors. McHorn and Delgato each wished Nick the best and walked out as well.

 

“Nick.”

 

He looked up into her violet eyes that were trying to be neutral but failing spectacularly in disguising the worry therein. He gave her a genuine smile. “I told you not to worry. I’ll be fine, and as soon as this new law gets changed I’ll be right back in here with them taking the thing out. Nothing to worry about, you know?”

 

“I know. I hate that you have to go through this, but I know I can’t change it right now, and that Dr. Lightfoot seems like a much better choice than Dr. Quill.”

 

“Or he’s just better at hiding it. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I trust him. And I’ll come out of this thing just the same way that I always have.”

 

“Don’t tell me you’re going to go back to those horrible green Hawaiian shirts!” Judy gasped in horror.

 

“Hey!” She fought back a smile, then leaned down and kissed him, her lips meeting his, softly at first but pressing harder and harder as she grabbed his paw and squeezed.

 

“I love you, you big dumb fox.” He matched her watery smile with a stronger one of his own.

 

“I love you too, fluff.”

 

Judy gave a half-hearted laugh and with one final squeeze of her partner’s paw, she carefully hopped down to the floor and picked up her crutches.

 

They shared one last look as the anaesthesiologist walked in and started fussing over Nick, then Judy walked out the door and made her way back to the hospital’s waiting room.


	15. Chapter 14

“You’re not getting one.”

 

“You’re not going to stop me.”

 

“You’ll have to go through city council, and they’ll never approve of it – and if Bogo finds out, he’ll have you on parking duty for at least a _year_ after you get back from medical leave.”

 

“Bogo wants these laws repealed, then this is a damn good way to do it.” Nate snickered at Judy’s expletive.

 

“Bogo doesn’t want these laws repealed as badly as that. Do you know what kind of nightmare that would cause for the department?”

 

“Since when are you worried about PR?”

 

“C’mon, Carrots,” Nick whined. “You don’t want a collar, trust me.”

 

“Maybe not, but I want you to wear one even less. And if it helps get you out of your collar then I’d do it gladly.”

 

“But the thing is, it _won’t_ help get me out of my collar. It’ll just inflame tensions.”

 

Judy glared at him. Nick countered with his own pleading and concerned expression. Nate silently finished off his ice cream cone.

 

Nate had been the one to drive them to the hospital for Nick’s surgery, and afterwards he had driven the three of them to The Scoop, where they’d all gotten ice cream. Nick had predictably gotten blueberry, Judy had gotten carrots’n’cream, and Nate had decided on the raspberry lemonade.

 

And then they’d gotten into the argument after they climbed into her dad’s old pickup truck. The collar hadn’t left her mind since she’d walked into the operating room and watched them clip it into place around her partner’s neck. Every time she saw the faintly pulsing green light located just underneath Nick’s chin, it made her heart burn with barely contained fury at the injustice of it all.

 

“And if I wasn’t the only one?”

 

“Excuse me? Where are you going to find other prey animals that are willing to wear these collars, too?”

 

“I don’t know – there would probably be very few prey around here who would, but in the city? I’m pretty sure that we could dredge up a few mammals willing to take it on.”

 

“And how are you going to find those mammals, hmm? You’re out here in Bunnyburrow,” he said, starting to enumerate on his fingers. “Because you’re one of the most famous cops in the city, you can’t just go knocking on animal’s doors and saying, ‘Do you want to wear an aggression activated shock collar to help support the 10% of the population that this affects?’ And likely as soon as you’re back in the city, Chief Buffalo Butt will have you back on duty, doing paperwork and working in records to keep you out of his fur.”

 

“You don’t know that will happen!”

 

“Carrots, you already cause the chief a headache every time you’re not on a case. Until your leg is fully healed, he won’t put you on active duty, even as a meter maid. Therefore he’s going to keep you as occupied as possible until you’re fully recovered. And if he catches wind that you’re trying to organize a public protest by having _everyone_ wear collars, and not just the predators, then it means that the media will have caught wind of it minutes earlier and will already be putting out stories about it.”

 

“Fine. Then I’ll go through that activist group – what are they called again, PRAG? I’ll go through them and give them my suggestion, and then they can be the ones who are recruiting everyone for the protest instead.”

 

“Judy,” Nick whined again, setting her ears to twitching on her head. She smoothed them back against her scalp with a paw, but they still twitched in time with her nose. “Please trust me on this, you _don’t_ want to be wearing one of these collars. This is a symbol of oppression, of prey dominance over predators. This is a symbol of _fear and hatred_.”

 

“Which is just another reason why we need to have it removed!”

 

“But your way isn’t the way we should be going about it.”

 

“And why not? What _logical_ excuse could you possibly have for us not going about it this way? Or better yet, what way do you think would work better?”

 

“Hang on here, Judy,” Nate said. “I think I see what he’s getting at.”

 

“You stay out of this, Nate.”

 

“Hear me out, sis. If you put on the shock collars now, too, then some people will notice, but a lot of them will probably think you’ve been collared because you were a small predator getting a species reassignment surgery, or whatever they’re called. Y’know, a small predator will still likely exhibit a predator’s habits until they’ve fully gotten used to the new species that they are, so they’ll probably be forced to wear a collar for a little while, too. Plus bureaucracy’s a bitch. So if you start right now with prey wearing collars too, then it won’t do very much good. But if you give it time, and then when people are used to seeing collars on predators, as soon as prey start wearing them too, it’ll catch people’s attention a heck of a lot more.”

 

“I… Did he put you up to this?”

 

“No, I didn’t,” Nick answered before the younger rabbit had a chance. “And that was _not_ what I was trying to say. Why do you both think it’s a good idea for prey to start wearing shock collars, too? Don’t you realize how much these things _hurt_ if you get shocked?”

 

“I don’t care how much it’ll hurt,” Judy said, the fire back in her eyes, her ears standing straight up and stiff. “Because if you’re going to get hurt, then it’ll hurt me one way or another. I might as well be getting hurt for the same reason that you are.”

 

They pulled up through the drive of the Hopps’ farm and parked just beside the old farmhouse, under the awning that protected the beat-up pickup truck from the elements. Stu was just coming in from the fields when they pulled up, and he waited for them near the edge of the back porch.

 

“Don’t say anything to my parents about this,” Judy warned. “They’d flip out at all three of us for even having this discussion. Especially not over dinner; the last thing we want is for the Hopps family broken telephone to give them the wrong message – especially if it goes through Vince.”

 

“You don’t have to worry about that from me, Carrots,” Nick said, sliding his sly-smiling mask back into place. “Unlike you bunnies, I’m running down on fuel, so I’m just going to head to bed tonight. I’ll catch you when you come down for bed.”

 

“What about dinner? It’s probably ready right now!”

 

“This food for thought that we’ve been having has left me without an appetite.” He was smiling as he said it, but Judy could hear both exhaustion and resentment in his voice.

 

“Fine,” she snapped, pushing open the door of the pickup and hopping down onto her crutches. He winced internally at what must have been a jarring landing, but she just shrugged it off and made her way over to where her father was still waiting. Nate followed a moment after, giving Nick a long, pitying look before hurrying to catch up to his sister. The fox was left to stare after them in carefully-concealed bewilderment before making his own way out of the truck. He struck for the carrot fields, intending to take the far elevator down to avoid the rabbit horde that was begging to be fed.

**

“Nick.”

 

“Mmmph.”

 

“Nick.” Kick.

 

“Mmmphem mph.”

 

“Nick, wake up. Please.” This time she shook his shoulder. Finally he raised his head, clearly very groggy.

 

“C-Carrots?” He said, yawning. “What time is it?”

 

“It’s 2:30 in the morning. I know it’s early, but—“

 

“Eh,” he replied, shrugging. “I woke you up at 3:30am last week, so if this is important I guess we’re even now. So, what’s got your tail in a twist?”

 

“I… I just got a text from Fru Fru; someone broke into my apartment a few minutes ago.” Nick’s night vision let him see her trembling even in the nearly non-existent light in their room. Her ears were drooping and it looked like she was in some kind of shock. “A reporter that acts as an informant for Mr. Big saw it and let him know; apparently Bucky and Pronk called the cops when they heard the guy talking to himself.”

 

Nick stood up and walked over to where she was still trembling. He pulled her into a hug, making sure to keep her head off the new collar attached to his neck, and his tail pressed up against her back, the tip just barely touching her ears. “Any word from them yet? Did they catch the perp in the act of taking anything?”

 

“I… I don’t think so.”

 

He realized she wasn’t trembling, she was shivering. He guided her back over to the mattress and wrapped their blanket around her. “Did Fru Fru say anything else?”

 

Judy swallowed. “From… from the reporter’s description, Mr. Big thinks it was a hit man. They won’t know until they actually get a chance to take a look, but they said they’ll keep in touch.”

 

 _Well that explains the shock,_ Nick thought, silently cursing whoever had decided to send a hit man to break into his girlfriend’s apartment in the dead of night to do who-knew-what to her.

 

He pressed himself up closer against her, the underside of his muzzle pressed against the top of her head, his arms wrapped around her torso and his tail pooling in her lap. She leaned into his embrace, still shivering.

 

“You know that the ZPD will do everything to protect you against whoever is sending these people, and Mr. Big will double that with his own mammals out of sight. They won’t let anything happen to you, and neither will I.”

 

“I have a postcard taped up to my wall,” she whispered into his bare chest. “My friend Sharla went down to Woolt Disney World when we were in high school, and she sent me back a postcard. It’s taped up to my wall, and it has my address on it. _This_ address.”

 

“Carrots, I…” Then it hit him, what she was implying. “I promise, we won’t let anything happen to your family. We’ll make sure that whoever is on this case in the precinct gets all the help we can give them, and we’ll make sure to catch this guy before he can even get close to Bunnyburrow.”

 

Judy nodded against his chest again and continued to shiver as he held her.

 

“I’m sorry for all those things I said earlier… about wanting to have a collar, too? You were right, that was really… insensitive of me.”

 

“I wish I had that carrot pen handy,” Nick joked. “If I go get it, would you mind repeating that part about me being right?”

 

Judy didn’t respond.

 

“Hey, Judy… It’s difficult to watch someone go through something like this and not be able to help them. I get it. And you’re not the kind of person to just sit back and let injustice go unresolved. Don't apologize for that part. And yeah, the collars thing is happening.” Nick swallowed and was very conscious of the electrodes inset into the tight plastic-and-rubber ring that made up the collar. “It’s happening and we have to fight it every step of the way. But let’s do it together, in a way that will mean something to us and to everyone around us. Let’s work _with_ the ZPD, instead of against them. And hey, if we play our cards right, we could probably get Bogo to stomp into the next city council meeting, give _them_ all parking duty for a month, and then we could watch all of them prance around in their little meter-maid vests handing out parking tickets.”

 

“How will that help with the collars problem?”

 

“It won’t, but it will make me feel a little better and will probably go viral. ‘Normally peaceful cape buffalo scares 2 dozen predators and prey into doing community service after they pass world’s stupidest law.’ It’ll make international headlines.”

 

Judy pulled away slightly and looked up at him. He was relieved to see that her eyes were starting to return to a normal size. “Zootopia’s stupidest law is actually Bill D-119, which states that no kind of horned animal is allowed to have more than three horn-waxings per month. It also says that non-horned animals can have as many horn-waxings per month as they want.”

 

“Ahh, now there’s the bunny I love! Though you will have to come up with a better lie next time, if you want to fool me.”

 

“That wasn’t a lie, Nick,” she smiled. “Apparently you need to go back and re-memorize the handbook.”

 

“Wait, you’re serious? Aw, crap!”

 

Judy just smiled harder and pressed herself firmly against her fox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to @nightcrawler554 for inspiring a whole new take on the chapter.


	16. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one and jumps around a little bit. Enjoy!

Fru Fru kept them updated on everything that was happening with the investigation of the break-in at Judy’s apartment. She’d managed to convince the officers on duty that she was helping take care of the place while Judy was out of town. It probably hadn’t hurt that Judy had called Bucky and Pronk the next morning to get them to confirm Fru Fru’s story with the police.

 

“So apparently it was only Bucky who was home at the time,” Judy told Nick over breakfast the next day. “Bucky’s the more laid-back of the two of them and isn’t nearly as gung-ho. If Pronk had been there I have no doubt that he would have stormed into my place and probably rammed the animal.”

 

“Which one is which, again?” Nick replied through a mouthful of fruit.

 

“Bucky’s the kudu. The one with the curved horns,” Judy added, seeing her partner’s confusion.

 

“Oh. Isn’t that also the one who sounds like he’s still going through puberty?”

 

“Voice cracks are normal for kudu all throughout their lives.” Judy rolled her eyes.

 

“Hey, how was I supposed to know that? He’s the first kudu that I’ve met.”

 

“I thought you knew everyone in the city.”

 

“Believe it or not, not every species has a hundred and one mammals to represent it roaming the streets of Zootopia.”

 

They finished eating and cleared their places at the table. Stu walked in just as they were about to walk out of the kitchen. “Hey, Jude the dude!”

 

“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

 

“What do you two have on the roster for the day?”

 

“Not much,” she said, looking at Nick. “I don’t think we have any real plans, unless the sauna is back up and working.”

 

“You guys have a sauna?” Nick asked, ears perking up in excitement.

 

“Nah, the pipes are still clogged,” Stu replied gruffly. “I swear, someone must’a shoved a rutabaga down one of ‘em to resist that much pressure.”

 

“The sauna’s underground,” Judy explained, “so we have to let the steam out every once in a while otherwise it gets really gross and full of algae and fungus and stuff.” Nick shuddered at that mental picture. “It’s clean right now – at least it should be – but until we unstick the pipes, we can’t use it.”

 

“Too bad; it’s been too long since I’ve been in a sauna.”

 

“You can go to one once we get back to the city.”

 

“At any rate,” Stu interrupted, clearing his throat. “If you’re not doing anything today, would you mind helping me with preparation’s for this year’s Carrot Day festival?”

 

“Carrot Day festival?” Nick gave a hoot of laughter, startling the older rabbit standing across from him. “I knew it! And you told me that you didn’t worship the great and almighty Carrot Lord,” Nick scoffed at Judy.

 

Stu looked perplexed, but Judy just punched Nick on the arm. He muttered out a faint “ow,” but didn’t have a chance to say anything else.

 

“The Carrot Day festival is to celebrate the start of the summer growing season, not to worship some kind of giant space carrot. It started out west with the original rabbit carrot farmers in Harefield, and then they brought it east with them to the warmer climates of the Greater Zootopia Area.”

 

“I still think you worship the Almighty Carrot.”

 

“Just like you worship the Big Blueberry. We’d love to help, Dad,” she added.

 

“Good! We’ve got plenty to do still to get ready for this year’s festival. Jude, your mom could use some more help in her garden; claims she’s got a winning zucchini this year. Her eggplants are comin’ along really nicely, too. How are your ribs doing, Nick?”

 

“Well, Mr. Hopps, with this all-natural diet that you’ve had me on for the past weeks, they’re feeling pretty damn good.”

 

“Great! You can help me and the boys set up the tents for the festival!”

 

“Sure thing, Mr. Hopps. Just curious, though – when you say ‘me and the boys,’ which boys do you mean exactly?”

 

“Me an’ a few of the other families are in charge of setting up the tents this year. We’ll each be bringing in one or two people to help us out. For us, it’s you and my son Jeff. He’s back from Mammoth Falls, where he just finished his Master’s degree and will be working on his PhD in the fall.”

 

Judy gave them both a hug and started hopping off to go find her mother in the garden. Nick watched her go for a moment, unable to stop himself from noticing the cute way her hips moved every time she hopped, then followed Stu in the opposite direction, towards the nearest elevator.

 

“So what’s Jeff studying at MFU?”

 

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Before Nick could respond, Stu was banging on one of the doors on their way. “Jeff! Get your tail out of bed now! Nick’n’I are ready to go!” A chorus of groans met his words, and after a moment, the door opened to reveal a very nude male rabbit.

 

“What’s that, Pa?” The rabbit yawned and scratched his stomach. He didn’t seem to care very much that Nick was standing right there. Suddenly a pillow hit him in the back of the head. “Hey!” He closed the door and Nick could hear the sounds of muffled arguing coming from within.

 

Stu sighed. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe he got in on a full scholarship,” he muttered. The rabbit stepped back out into the hallway, this time wearing clothes. Over his shoulder, Nick could just barely see a grouping of mattresses with several other bunnies on it, thankfully clothed. “Jeff, this is Nick. Nick, Jeff. He’s in the third litter, born the same year as Judy. They graduated a year apart at Mammoth Falls University.”

 

“So you’re the fox that’s been putting Vince’s tail in a twist, eh?” Jeff still looked half-asleep, but he had a firmer grip than most businessmammals that Nick had met. “Good for you. That bloody bastard deserves to have his behind handed to him every once in a while.”

 

“I… uh…”

 

“Language, Jeff,” Stu reminded him. “If your mother catches you talkin’ like that, she’ll have you down in the laundry unit faster than you can say carrot cream float!”

 

“Well if Ma was here, then I wouldn’t be talking like that. But since it’s just us guys, who cares?”

 

Stu grumbled for a minute more, then said, “Are you ready to go?”

 

“Let me grab some coffee and a few carrots, and I’ll meet you by the truck.”

 

 _Maybe you should grab a shower, too,_ Nick thought, thankful that he’d trained himself not to flinch at a mammal’s offensive odour. He knew from experience that it was hard to control, especially for the males.

 

The two of them set off again while Jeff walked back to the kitchen, very obviously rubbing sleep from his eyes. “You must be very proud, Mr. Hopps.”

 

“Ah, shut it,” the older rabbit groused good-naturedly. “He’s a good kid, even if his siblings are such a bad influence on him. He got home yesterday just after dinner and within a half-hour, the other three had him out the door and going bar-hopping with them in town.”

 

“They must have been a fun litter to deal with.”

 

“No kidding. Every other night in high school an’ college I’d have to patrol the fields with a shotgun to scare away their boyfriends. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times I’d caught them rutting right out in the open.”

 

“And you didn’t do that with me, because…?”

 

“Because a shotgun that hasn’t worked since my own dad was a kid won’t do much to stop a fox, and Jude is more like to step in _front_ of the gun rather than let me point it at you.”

 

“So in other words, the gun is a scare tactic to get those rabbits to run away as fast as they can, but without the threat of actually ever hurting them.” Stu nodded. “Clever. Probably stops people from thinking they can win if they decide to prosecute you for threatening them, too.”

 

“Well that’s one way to look at it.”

 

“It also explains why Judy said that you don’t own a shotgun.”

 

“Not one that works, anyway.”

 

“Though I do have to question if a fox Taser wouldn’t work just as well in that instance.”

 

Nick could tell exactly how uncomfortable he was making the rabbit by the smell radiating off him. It wasn’t his intention, but he needed to test out the waters somehow, and he figured it was better to clear the air right at the beginning than let that crack turn into a chasm.

 

“I… I got rid of the fox Tasers that we had when I partnered with Gideon Grey,” Stu mumbled. “Judy was right; we don’t have anything to be afraid of, and having fox Tasers is just continuing to perpetuate prejudice. Especially with all that’s going on right now… well, there’s already enough of that in the world right now, now we just need some more folks who are trying to help stop it.”

 

Nick nodded and they walked for a few minutes in silence. “So what _does_ Jeff study? He seems like he’ll be too tired to answer any of my questions today.”

 

“That or too hungover,” Stu replied, seeming glad to be moving away to more comfortable topics. “I swear, that boy drinks like a hog but can barely handle his liqueur half as well.”

 

“Ah, yes, that magical time where a person thinks they’re invincible and immortal – until they wake up.”

 

“Speaking from experience, eh, Wilde?”

 

“Please. I was always a model student. Never partied, never drank past my limit, and I certainly never thought of myself as immortal. King of the world, maybe, but I never let it get past that.”

 

Stu chuckled, and Nick increased his grin.

 

“Jeff is studying genetic engineering at MFU. They’ve got one of the leading programs for it in the entire world, and he got in on a full scholarship. Heck, both him an’ Judy graduated high school with a perfect 5.0 GPA; probably the only reason that she didn’t get a full scholarship as well was because she chose to go into criminal justice and he went into biology.”

 

“She must have been furious about that.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Stu chuckled again. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that mad. She stormed around the house for days after she heard the news. She gets real competitive, as I’m sure you know.”

 

“Competitive can be a good thing,” Nick shrugged. “It’s bumped the two of us up to top of the list for number of cases solved. Though after this extended leave of absence Delgato and Wolford might have gotten ahead of us.”

 

“True enough,” Stu said. “It’s also the reason that she got into the police force in the first place.”

 

“And we’re both better for it.”

**

Nick found out the hard way that country bunnies had an entirely different definition of partying than city dwellers.

 

“Carrots, I thought that you said there was a _party_ at the end of the night!”

 

“What do you call this?”

 

“A country hoedown? A regular old Friday evening? C’mon, this isn’t a party!”

 

“Around here it is.”

 

“When we get back to the city, I’m bringing you to a real party,” he huffed, taking a swig of his carrot beer.

 

Nick had spent most of the previous week helping set up the tents for the festival. Even with the dozens of rabbits and the half-dozen sheep and goats, it still took them several days to get everything set for the festival.

 

Based on the sparse commentary that Stu provided while they worked, Nick had learned that Bunnyburrow had the largest Carrot Day festival in Animalia, bringing in crowds of just over 84 million annually. He’d heard about the festival in the news over the years, of course, but had never actually bothered to check it out or to do any research on it. Now he was kind of regretting that.

 

He and Judy had explored all the festival grounds, trying this and that food, sampling this and that candy or liqueur or beer, playing the occasional carnival game and in general just enjoying the warm weather and each other’s company.

 

Now, a week after they had finished setting up, they were crammed into the bleachers surrounding one of the local football fields, watching hordes of rabbit partners and other contestants square dance.

 

“Man, I wish I could be right out there with them,” Judy declared in a soft voice. “Do you know that I used to dance with Al every year, and this will be the first year that I’m at the Carrot Day festival that I won’t be competing?” She turned to look at him. “Have you ever danced?”

 

“The last time I danced with anyone was Finnick’s wedding. Of course, I ended up getting robbed by the weasel who did it, but that’s besides the point. Actually, scratch that; that is the point. That’s why I don’t dance anymore.”

 

“Finnick is married?”

 

“Yep, four times in six different countries. Only two of them stuck.”

 

“Sweet cheese and crackers! How did that happen?”

 

“Well surprisingly enough, for once the vixen actually loved him and wasn’t just doing it for the money or because she was drunk. Hard to figure out what she sees in him, but—“

 

“Nick! I meant the four marriages in six different countries!”

 

“Well, the last one was in Las Preygas, the two before that overseas… Both of them took place on the borders of two different countries, either because one or both of them wasn’t technically allowed into the other country and so they decided to have a wedding that straddled the border. And then the one before that, they decided to drunkenly elope to Canineda. Got just past the border, ran into a drunken ex-priest in a bar and told him to marry them.”

 

“How did they even get _into_ Canineda? I thought you weren’t allowed to cross the border if you were drunk.”

 

“As best as Finn can remember, he bribed them with some Cuban cigars.”

 

“Figures. That sounds _just_ like him.” Judy shook her head, but Nick couldn’t help but notice the grin on her snout.

 

The song ended and the crowd cheered, many of them leaping to their feet as the contestants all bowed and clapped for each other before turning back to the judges. Judy used the momentary distraction to swipe the bottle of beer from Nick’s paw and take a large gulp. After her last visit with Dr. Loup, she’d stopped taking her painkillers, so there was no longer any concern about negative effects of the alcohol. Well, no more than usual anyway.

 

“Oh! Mom and Dad scored well this year.” Judy had to crane her neck to see the judges scores.

 

“You sound surprised; what, were you expecting them to score really low?”

 

“No, they normally do fairly well, but this year they’re in the top five.”

 

“Really?” Nick said, standing up to see over the heads and long ears all around him. “Out of the four hundred pairs of contestants? That’s _really_ good!”

 

“Yeah! I mean, normally they place in the top thirty, but this is something else! I wonder what they’re going to do with the prize?”

 

“What do they win?”

 

“A cask of carrot whiskey and a free couple’s massage at a spa downtown.”

 

Nick gave a low whistle, causing some of the bunnies to turn and give him sharp glares. He placated them with a grin and by miming zipping his lips and throwing away the key. They continued to glare at him for a few more moments, then turned back around to watch the presentation of the awards.

 

“So if that’s what the _fifth_ place wins,” he started slowly, making sure he had Judy’s attention, “what does the _first_ place win?”

 

“A free trip to anywhere in the country, courtesy of Tri-Burrow Airlines.”

 

“That’s a pretty snazzy reward. Let me guess, they’re one of the sponsors of the Carrot Day festival?”

 

Judy shook her head. “No, but they get a cut of all the profits made during the festival, because they own the land that we use for it every year.”

 

“I would’ve thought that the city council would worry about that. It seems like a bureaucratic thing to do, make a tidy profit from everyone’s enjoyment.”

 

“Tri-Burrow Air has owned the land here for decades; they’re part of the reason that the festival is as large as it is. The city would have to go through a mountain and a half of paperwork to either purchase the land – which would also cost them more money than they’re willing to spend – or to have the festival moved to a piece of land of an appropriate size that they already own. And as much as bureaucrats love money, they hate paperwork.”

 

“Do you even know what a bureaucrat is? Paperwork is their lifeblood!”

 

Judy’s answer is lost in the roar of the crowd as the contestants gave one final bow after they were all presented with their awards. Then suddenly everyone around them was rushing down to the ground to congratulate family and friends, or to get to their cars and get out as quick as possible to avoid the traffic jam.

 

Judy hopped among the crowd, more letting it sweep her along rather than being an active part of it. Instead of trying to catch up to her, Nick just stood on top of the seat next to the stairs and waited for a group of teenagers to pass by. “Hey!” he called, and they all looked his way. “Crowd surf!” Their eyes instantly lit up, and they put up their arms for him, catching him as he jumped. They started hooting and yelling in pleasure, and a few of the ones who weren’t supporting Nick’s weight climbed up beside him.

 

By the time he reached the Hopps’, there were over a dozen bunnies, several sheep and even a fully-grown moose that were crowd surfing behind him, and everyone loved it. He dropped to the ground and made sure that nothing had been taken from the zippered pocket inside the front pocket of his khaki shorts, then walked over to them.

 

Judy, as could be expected, was both laughing and giving him a chastising look. “You sly fox,” she scolded through a giggle. “How did you manage to get a chain of crowd surfing going?”

 

“Didn’t you notice the punk-rocker teenagers that were a few rows behind us? They were kind of hard to miss, with their brightly coloured fur and wool, and the leather jackets that they were wearing.”

 

“But still, how did you convince them?”

 

“Punk rockers are always looking for something to make things a little more exciting. So I said to them, “Crowd Surfing,” and jumped, and they caught me and started parading me around on their shoulders – and then of course a few others became inspired by my idea and went off of it as well.”

 

“You really are something, Nick,” Al said from where he was standing beside his sister. “I guess it’s true what they say about businessmammals; charismatic and know their markets.” Nick had tensed, expecting a comment about his species, but Al seemed to be getting better about the whole predator-prey relationship thing. At least to their faces.

 

“Wait, what?” Beth said from Judy’s other side. “I thought that he was a police officer, not a businessmammal!”

 

“I have a degree in business,” Nick informed her. He realized that Al must not have spread the word to his siblings that Nick did, in fact, have a degree.

 

“I didn’t think that’d get you into the police; the way Judy was describing it, you had to have a degree relating to something in police work, like criminology or something.”

 

“It’ll get you in,” Judy replied with a shrug. “But it won’t get you very far; you need a degree in something related to police work to make it past the level of sergeant. So if you know that you’re going to be a police officer, then why not take the degree right from the start?”

 

“That was _not_ what you told us.”

 

“Well I wouldn’t have been allowed to take it, otherwise.” She shrugged again.

 

“Anyway,” Nick cut in, not eager to get into _that_ debate right here with Judy’s family. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Hopps. Top 5 out of 400 is quite the accomplishment.”

 

“Thank you, Nick,” Bonnie said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve won anything like this. How many years has it been now, Stu?”

 

“35 years since we ranked this high in the competition,” Stu replied proudly. “And the prizes just keep getting better and better.” He patted the barrel of whiskey that only came up to his hip and laughed.

 

“35 years… We weren’t even dating back then!”

 

“Yeah, you were just a girl that I was crushin’ on hard, and I was just that dumb farmer boy who you thought was really sweet.”

 

“Well dear, awkward is closer to what I was thinking, but you proved it to be true.”

 

“If that’s the way you thought about him back then, Ma, then how come you said yes to the dance?”

 

“Well Anne, my parents always taught me that for most rabbits, the best thing we can hope for is someone who’s bearable and treats you with respect. And since no one else had asked me to dance, I figured, why not?”

 

“Ah, it took you a little while, Bon, but you sure did come around in the end.”

 

“Of course, dear.” Nick noticed that Bonnie’s smile seemed a little forced as she put her paw on her husband’s shoulder, but the look of love in her eye seemed to be genuine.

 

“Well we’re all very happy for you both.” Everyone within earshot turned to look at the newcomer, and Nick’s easy smile became forced as well as he saw the smoky white fur of Dr. Lara Loup, dressed in a cotton blouse that just barely managed to mask the collar around her neck, and leather chaps. Behind her was a smaller timbre wolf with grey fur. “And congratulations on winning fifth. I’ve been square dancing for twenty years and I felt completely out-classed here on the dance floor this evening.”

 

“Oh, were you a part of the competition too, Dr. Loup?” Bonnie asked politely. Clearly she still wasn’t very comfortable being around the old she-wolf.

 

“I did. Alice and I were a last minute registration; nearly put the poor bunnies at reception into cardiac arrest when they saw us come charging up to the table, but thankfully we were able to calm them down shortly afterwards. At any rate, however, I didn’t come all the way here from Zootopia just for a square dancing competition. Nick and Judy, may I speak with you for a moment?”

 

The two exchanged glances, then took a few steps back from the rest of the Hopps family. Dr. Loup followed them, leaving her partner to make awkward conversation with Judy’s parents and siblings.

 

“Judy, your cast is ready to come off.” Dr. Loup barely even gave them a chance to breathe before jumping right in. “There’s no reason for you to have to keep it on any longer, and I’d imagine that you’re ready to give it a nice good itching and a few washes with a strong fur lotion.”

 

“That’s an understatement! When will you be able to take it off?”

 

“I’ll come by your farm at 7:30 tomorrow morning and take it off. By this point, your leg should be fully healed, metal rod and all. The only reason that I didn’t take it off the last time I was here was because I needed to get the x-rays back. They sent them in from the Tri-Burrow hospital after your last visit – the collar implant for you, Nicky, was it?”

 

“I… yeah.”

 

“Judy went and got x-rays done of her leg while you were in surgery.”

 

“She told me,” Nick muttered, barely loud enough to be heard over the din that still filled the air.

 

“Good. And while I’m there tomorrow, I’ll give you a check-up as well. By now your ribs should be in good working order again.”

 

“Why do you always show up so early?”

 

“Remember, Mr. Wilde, that I still have to drive back into the city tomorrow morning, and Alice has a play that she’s supposed to be seeing with a friend in the early afternoon. I’m doing you the favour of coming all the way out here to give you physicals and sign your release forms so that Chief Bogo can put you back on active duty, so we’re doing it by my schedule.” She was smiling as she said it, but the steel in her voice never changed.

 

“Fine, fine,” Nick responded, holding his hands up in surrender. “I was just asking.”

 

“Good. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning then.”

**

Nick looked up just as Judy walked back into their room, one towel saronged around her torso, another wrapping her ears in a tall curling mass on top of her head. “I’m surprised you can even move with that thing on,” he said. “Your balance is horrible.”

 

“That one time with the water bottles doesn’t count,” she replied, turning and closing the door to their room. She still had a bit of a limp from not using her right leg for a month and a half, but it wasn’t very pronounced.

 

“It does too!”

 

“Not a chance, slick. If you had given me warning, I probably would have been able to do it. But when you put a frozen water bottle between my ears, my _last_ reaction is, ‘oh, gotta balance this freezing cold thing on my head.’”

 

“True, but to hear you yelp was _so_ worth it.”

 

“Until you got caught and Bogo had you in records for a week. Meanwhile I was stuck on desk duty – paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. I mean I know it’s part of the job, but I ended up having to do your portion too.”

 

“It couldn’t have been that bad, if you willingly accepted the donut I bought you the next day.”

 

“Well, the donut was good,” she admitted. “And you did keep your case files surprisingly tidy.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He was genuinely confused; she’d never mentioned anything about his organization before, and he couldn’t tell in that moment if she was serious or not.

 

“Compared to the way you keep your room?” She gestured around at their shared room, where Nick’s clothes made up a few different piles. “I can’t tell what’s clean and what isn’t, since you haven’t put anything away, in _any_ kind of organizational pattern that I can read.”

 

“Just ‘cause you can’t read it, doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.” Nick shot her a sly grin. “But what does that have to do with my case file organization?”

 

“I honestly thought that you were just a messy person,” she replied, “and I can barely tell what’s in those stacks on your desk. But as soon as I actually went looking for something, I realized that everything was very clearly labelled, it was all neatly organized in a very clear and easy-to-understand way, and your handwriting was really nice and neat!”

 

“Don’t tell Finn that, I’d never hear the end of it,” Nick groaned out, going back to his phone. “Hey, while you were in the shower, I got an email from…” He stopped as he heard a soft _thunk_ from the end of the bed. He looked up and had to do a double-take, his ears pinning back to his head.

 

“Uh… J-Judy?”

 

Judy looked over to see him half-sitting up, staring at her slack-jawed. “Nick? Is something wrong?”

 

“You-you’re not wearing any clothes. You know that, right?”

 

Judy glanced down at her naked body, then back up at her partner. “I know. So?”

 

“I… uh…” She’d never seen him so speechless before. Heck, she couldn’t remember a time when he’d been speechless since Mr. Big adopted her into his family and forgave Nick because of it.

 

He swallowed. “Nothing, I guess. It just surprised me at how beautiful you look without any clothes on.”

 

Now it was her turn to be speechless. “I… Nick…”

 

“And, you know,” he added, recovering and trying to brush off his momentary lack of brain function. “It’s the first time I’ve been allowed to look when you don’t have any clothes on.”

 

“Oh.” Judy looked down at her body again, then back up at him. “I guess it is.”

 

“So what changed?” He still hadn’t sat back down, and she was starting to notice a bulge in his pants. He quickly tried to move a paw to cover it, but not quickly enough for her not to notice. She turned away quickly, feeling her body heating up. She was suddenly thankful that her ears were wrapped up.

 

“I… I guess that I’m just comfortable enough with you now, like outside of a work relationship, that I don’t mind just being casually exposed around you. Plus, I mean, we _have_ been sleeping together for more than a month now; what’s a little nudity, right?”

 

She was getting flustered. She had never thought that he could find her attractive enough to get aroused from something as simple as seeing her nude. And now, just seeing that it _was_ possible was enough to get her hot and bothered as well.

 

“So, what were you going to say earlier? About-about the email you got?”

 

“Oh, yeah, uh… an email from dispatch. Bogo wants us back in the city ASAP; evidence teams found that postcard in your room, and Bogo’s worried that the hit man did too, compromising our location. The email also said that, since we’ve been cleared to return to active duty by Dr. Loup, we may as well return to the city and get back to it.”

 

“How does he know about that already?!”

 

“Dr. Loup acts fast. She also hates having people bothering her; since she can’t get the chief to back off in the usual way, she has to find a different way to get him to leave her alone.”

 

“When does he want us back?”

 

“He said he expects us in his office tomorrow morning just after morning muster.”

 

“ _What_? But… that isn’t nearly enough time! We… we need to get ready, we need to prepare, and what if we hadn’t received the email? What if—“

 

“Don’t worry about the ‘what ifs’, Carrots. Problem is, the chief has a feature in his email that lets him know when we’ve read the messages for the first time. Kinda like texts.”

 

“I know how it works, Nick.” She started rushing around, throwing clothes on until she hopped from her left leg to her right and almost collapsed.

 

“Judy!” Nick was by her side in a minute, one arm wrapping around her back, the other hesitating over her stomach as if afraid to touch it. She noticed with some disappointment that the bulge in his pants had disappeared.

 

“I’m fine,” she replied. “I forgot that I was supposed to take it easy on my right leg, and it gave out on me. I’m not hurt, though.”

 

“Are you sure? You should try to stay off of it until—“

 

“Nick, that’s the exact opposite of what I should be doing. I need to be exercising it regularly, and the only way to get it back to full strength is to keep walking on it.”

 

“I… I know. I’m just worried about you. You know, it won’t be easy getting back into the swing of things on the force.”

 

“Nick, it wasn’t easy for either of us to get into the force to begin with. I’m not going to let a little thing like a formerly broken leg stop me from doing my job. And you shouldn’t let anything stop you from getting back into the force, either.”

 

“I won't. My – the only thing that would ever stop me from getting back on the force is if _you_ weren’t there beside me.”

 

Judy looked up into his eyes. His big, gemstone-like eyes filled with worry and concern and _love_. She looked into them, and reached up and kissed him.

 

“Oh, Nick… I will _always_ be beside you, until the end of time.” She could feel the snicker in his chest as she pressed her face against it, burying under the blue and gold-striped tie that he insisted on wearing still.

 

“Now even you have to admit, Carrots, that was cheesy.” She punched him in the arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the hopping around! Hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> Things are heating up! Questions that don't have answers here will probably be answered in part 3.
> 
> Final chapter of 'Shocking Precautions.' Part 3 should be coming out soon!


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